Object position detector with edge motion feature and gesture recognition

ABSTRACT

A method of generating a signal comprising providing a capacitive touch sensor pad including a matrix of X and Y conductors, developing capacitance profiles in one of an X direction and a Y direction from the matrix of X and Y conductors, determining an occurrence of a single gesture through an examination of the capacitance profiles, the single gesture including an application of at least two objects on the capacitive touch sensor pad, and generating a signal indicating the occurrence of the single gesture.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/810,879, filed Mar. 26, 2004, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/351,208,filed Jan. 23, 2003, which issued on Jun. 15, 2004 as U.S. Pat. No.6,750,852, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/899,317, filed Aug. 12, 1997, which issued on Aug. 26, 2003 as U.S.Pat. No. 6,610,936, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/623,483, filed Mar. 28, 1996, which issued on Mar. 3, 1999as U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,411, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/320,158, filed Oct. 7, 1994, which issuedon Aug. 6, 1996 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,591, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/300,387,filed Sep. 2, 1994, which issued on Jun. 22, 1999 as U.S. Pat. No.5,914,465, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/115,743, filed Aug. 31, 1993, which issued on Dec. 20, 1994as U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,787, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 07/895,934, filed Jun. 8, 1992, nowabandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to object position sensing transducers andsystems. More particularly, the present invention relates to objectposition recognition useful in applications such as cursor movement forcomputing devices and other applications, and especially to cursormovement with enhanced edge-motion and gesture-recognition features.

2. The Prior Art

Numerous devices are available or have been proposed for use as objectposition detectors for use in computer systems and other applications.The most familiar of such devices is the computer “mouse”. Whileextremely popular as a position indicating device, a mouse hasmechanical parts and requires a surface upon which to roll its positionball. Furthermore, a mouse usually needs to be moved over long distancesfor reasonable resolution. Finally, a mouse requires the user to lift ahand from the keyboard to make the cursor movement, thereby upsettingthe prime purpose, which is usually typing on the computer.

Trackball devices are similar to mouse devices. A major difference,however is that, unlike a mouse device, a trackball device does notrequire a surface across which it must be rolled. Trackball devices arestill expensive, have moving parts, and require a relatively heavy touchas do the mouse devices. They are also large in size and doe not fitwell in a volume-sensitive application like a laptop computer.

There are several available touch-sense technologies, which may beemployed for use as a position indicator. Resistive-membrane positionsensors are known and used in several applications. However, theygenerally suffer from poor resolution, the sensor surface is exposed tothe user and is thus subject to wear. In addition, resistive-membranetouch sensors are relatively expensive. A one-surface approach requiresa user to be grounded to the sensor for reliable operation. This cannotbe guaranteed in portable computers. An example of a one-surfaceapproach is the UnMouse product by MicroTouch, of Wilmington, Mass. Atwo-surface approach has poorer resolution and potentially will wear outvery quickly in time.

Resistive tablets are taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,430 to Yoshikawa,U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,617 to Ellis and many others. The drawback of allsuch approaches is the high power consumption and the high cost of theresistive membrane employed.

Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices have potential use as positionindicators. However, this sensor technology is expensive and is notsensitive to light touch. In addition, SAW devices are sensitive toresidue buildup on the touch surfaces and generally have poorresolution.

Strain gauge or pressure plate approaches are an interesting positionsensing technology, but suffer from several drawbacks. This approach mayemploy piezo-electric transducers. One drawback is that the piezophenomena is an AC phenomena and may be sensitive to the user's rate ofmovement. In addition, strain gauge or pressure plate approaches aresomewhat expensive because special sensors are required.

Optical approaches are also possible but are somewhat limited forseveral reasons. All would require light generation, which will requireexternal components and increase cost and power drain. For example, a“finger-breaking” infrared matrix position detector consumes high powerand suffers from relatively poor resolution.

There have been numerous attempts to provide a device for sensing theposition of a thumb or other finger for use as a pointing device toreplace a mouse or trackball. Desirable attributes of such a device arelow power, low profile, high resolution, low cost, fast response, andability to operate reliably when the finger carries electrical noise, orwhen the touch surface is contaminated with dirt or moisture.

Because of the drawbacks of resistive devices, many attempts have beenmade to provide pointing capability based on capacitively sensing theposition of the finger. U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,166 to Volpe teaches acapacitive matrix in which the finger changes the transcapacitancebetween row and column electrodes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,252 to Bobickemploys four oscillating signals to interpolate x and y positionsbetween four capacitive electrodes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,452 to Schuylerteaches a capacitive tablet wherein the finger attenuates the capacitivecoupling between electrodes.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,221 to Mabusth teaches a capacitive tablet whereinthe effective capacitance to “virtual ground” is measured by anoscillating signal. Each row or column is polled sequentially, and arudimentary form of interpolation is applied to resolve the positionbetween two rows or columns. An attempt is made to address the problemof electrical interference by averaging over many cycles of theoscillating waveform. The problem of contamination is addressed bysensing when no finger was present, and applying a periodic calibrationduring such no-finger-present periods. U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,720 toRympalski teaches a tablet for sensing the position of a stylus. Thestylus alters the transcapacitance coupling between row and columnelectrodes, which are scanned sequentially. U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,191 toMatzke teaches a radial electrode arrangement under the space bar of akeyboard, to be activated by touching with a thumb. This patent teachesthe use of total touch capacitance, as an indication of the touchpressure, to control the velocity of cursor motion. Pulsed sequentialpolling is employed to address the effects of electrical interference.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,686,332 and 5,149,919, to Greanias, teaches a stylusand finger detection system meant to be mounted on a CRT. As a fingerdetection system, it's X/Y sensor matrix is used to locate the twomatrix wires carrying the maximum signal. With a coding scheme these twowires uniquely determine the location of the finger position to theresolution of the wire stepping. For stylus detection, Greanias firstcoarsely locates it, then develops a virtual dipole by driving all lineson one side of the object in one direction and all lines on the oppositeside in the opposite direction. This is done three times with differentdipole phases and signal polarities. Assuming a predetermined matrixresponse to the object, the three measurements present a set ofsimultaneous equations that can be solved for position.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,222 to Evans is the first to teach a capacitancetouch measurement system that interpolates to a high degree. Evansteaches a three terminal measurement system that uses a drive, sense andelectrode signal set (3 signals) in its matrix, and bases themeasurement on the attenuation effect of a finger on the electrode nodesignal (uses a capacitive divider phenomena). Evans sequentially scansthrough each drive set to measure the capacitance. From the threelargest responses an interpolation routine is applied to determinefinger position. Evans also teaches a zeroing technique that allows“no-finger” levels to be canceled out as part of the measurement.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,008 to Gruaz describes a touch sensitive pad thatalso uses interpolation. Gruaz uses a drive and sense signal set (2signals) in the touch matrix and like Evans relies on the attenuationeffect of a finger to modulate the drive signal. The touch matrix issequentially scanned to read the response of each matrix line. Aninterpolation program then selects the two largest adjacent signals inboth dimensions to determine the finger location, and ratiometricallydetermines the effective position from those 4 numbers.

Gerpheide, PCT application US90/04584, Publication Number W091/03039,U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,017 applies to a touch pad system a variation of thevirtual dipole approach of Greanias. Gerpheide teaches the applicationof an oscillating potential of a given frequency and phase to allelectrodes on one side of the virtual dipole, and an oscillatingpotential of the same frequency and opposite phase to those on the otherside. Electronic circuits develop a “balance signal” which is zero whenno finger is present, and which has one polarity if a finger is on oneside of the center of the virtual dipole, and the opposite polarity ifthe finger is on the opposite side. To acquire the position of thefinger initially, the virtual dipole is scanned sequentially across thetablet. Once the finger is located, it is “tracked” by moving thevirtual dipole toward the finger once the finger has moved more than onerow or column.

Because the virtual dipole method operates by generating a balancesignal that is zero when the capacitance does not vary with distance, itonly senses the perimeter of the finger contact area, rather than theentire contact area. Because the method relies on synchronous detectionof the exciting signal, it must average for long periods to rejectelectrical interference, and hence it is slow. The averaging timerequired by this method, together with the necessity to searchsequentially for a new finger contact once a previous contact is lost,makes this method, like those before it, fall short of the requirementsfor a fast pointing device that is not affected by electricalinterference.

It should also be noted that all previous touch pad inventions that usedinterpolation placed rigorous design requirements on their sensing pad.Greanias and Evans use a complicated and expensive drive, sense andelectrode line scheme to develop their signal. Gruaz and Gerpheide use atwo signal drive and sense set. In the present invention the driving andsensing is done on the same line. This allows the row and columnsections to be symmetric and equivalent. This in turn allows independentcalibration of all signal paths, which makes board layout simpler andless constraining, and allows for more unique sensor topologies.

The shortcomings of the inventions and techniques described in the priorart can also be traced to the use of only one set of driving and sensingelectronics, which was multiplexed sequentially over the electrodes inthe tablet. This arrangement was cost effective in the days of discretecomponents, and avoided offset and scale differences among circuits.

The sequential scanning approach of previous systems also made them moresusceptible to noise. Noise levels could change between successivemeasurements, thus changing the measured signal and the assumptions usedin interpolation routines.

Finally, all previous approaches assumed a particular signal responsefor finger position versus matrix position. Because the transfer curveis very sensitive to many parameters and is not a smooth linear curve asGreanias and Gerpheide assume, such approaches are limited in the amountof interpolation they can perform.

In prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/115,743, filed Aug. 31,1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,787, a two-dimensional capacitive sensingsystem equipped with a separate set of drive/sense electronics for eachrow and for each column of a capacitive tablet is disclosed. All rowelectrodes are sensed simultaneously, and all column electrodes aresensed simultaneously. The sensed signals are processed by analogcircuitry.

Of the touchpad devices currently available, only the Alps/CirqueGlidePoint includes gesture recognition. The GlidePoint supports basictap, double-tap, and drag gestures to simulate actions on a primarymouse button. It does not support multiple-finger gestures, nor arethere gestures for simulating secondary button clicks. No information isknown about the implementation methods employed in the GlidePoint.However, the GlidePoint is known to have difficulty with double-taps,one of the problems addressed by the present invention. The GlidePointexhibits a hesitation on each finger-motion stroke, which may be anattempt to stabilize the cursor during tap gestures. Also, theGlidePoint must rely on physical switches or extremely high gain oracceleration in order to allow drags over long distances.

One touchpad product, the UnMouse, mounts a switch underneath itsresistive sensor so that the user simply presses down on the pad toactivate the button. Aside from requiring fragile and complex mechanicalmounting, this device also is reported to be very tiring to the user.

Graphics tablets operated by a pressure sensitive stylus instead of afinger are well known in the art. These devices typically use amechanism like the “push” gesture of the present invention to simulateactuator switches. No other gestures of the sort described herein havebeen seen in stylus operated tablets.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide atwo-dimensional capacitive sensing system equipped with a separate setof drive/sense electronics for each row and for each column of acapacitive tablet, wherein all row electrodes are sensed simultaneously,and all column electrodes are sensed simultaneously.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronicsystem that is sensitive to the entire area of contact of a finger orother conductive object with a capacitive tablet, and to provide asoutput the coordinates of some measure of the center of this contactarea while remaining insensitive to the characteristic profile of theobject being detected.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronicsystem that provides as output some measure of area of contact of afinger or other conductive object with a capacitive tablet.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide atwo-dimensional capacitive sensing system equipped with a separate setof drive/sense electronics for each row and for each column of acapacitive tablet, wherein all row electrodes are sensed simultaneously,and all column electrodes are sensed simultaneously and wherein theinformation defining the location of a finger or other conductive objectis processed in digital form.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide atwo-dimensional capacitive sensing system wherein all row electrodes aresensed simultaneously, and all column electrodes are sensedsimultaneously and wherein the location of a finger or other conductiveobject within a peripheral region of a sensing plane can optionallycause cursor “edge motion” on a display screen allowing control of largecursor excursions from a small sensing plane with a single gesture.

A further object of the invention is to provide for the recognition of adrag extension gesture made by a finger or other object on atouch-sensor pad in a manner that permits control of large cursorexcursions from a small sensing plane with a single gesture.

A further object of the invention is to provide for the recognition ofgestures made by a finger or other object on a touch-sensor pad in amanner which compensates for unintended motion of the finger or otherobject during expression of the gesture.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide for therecognition of multiple-finger gestures and for simulating secondarybutton clicks.

It is a further object of the present invention is to provide for therecognition of the difference between gestures made by novice and expertusers.

SUMMARY

With the advent of very high levels of integration, it has becomepossible to integrate many channels of driving/sensing electronics intoone integrated circuit, along with the control logic for operating them,and the interface electronics to allow the pointing device tocommunicate directly with a host microprocessor. The present inventionuses adaptive analog techniques to overcome offset and scale differencesbetween channels, and can thus sense either transcapacitance orself-capacitance of all tablet rows or columns in parallel. Thisparallel-sensing capability, made possible by providing one set ofelectronics per row or column, allows the sensing cycle to be extremelyshort, thus allowing fast response while still maintaining immunity tovery high levels of electrical interference.

The present invention comprises a position-sensing technologyparticularly useful for applications where finger position informationis needed, such as in computer “mouse” or trackball environments.However the position-sensing technology of the present invention hasmuch more general application than a computer mouse, because its sensorcan detect and report if one or more points are being touched. Inaddition, the detector can sense the pressure of the touch.

The disclosed device is directed towards a method for recognizing agesture made on a touch-sensor pad in a touch-sensing system providing Xand Y position information to a host. The method comprises detecting afirst presence of a conductive object on the touch-sensor pad. Themethod includes comparing the duration of the first presence with afirst reference amount of time, and initiating a first gesture signal tothe host if the duration of the first presence is less than the firstreference amount of time. The method also includes detecting a secondpresence of the conductive object on the touch-sensor pad and comparingthe duration between the first presence and the second presence with asecond reference amount of time. The method includes comparing theduration of the second presence with a third reference amount of time aswell as terminating the first gesture signal if the duration between thefirst presence and the second presence is greater than the secondreference amount of time; and maintaining the first gesture signal andrepeatedly sending X and Y position information to the host until theoccurrence of a terminating event if the amount of time between thefirst presence and the second presence is less than the second referenceamount of time and if the duration of the second presence is greaterthan the third reference amount of time.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, referredto herein as a “finger pointer” embodiment, a position sensing systemincludes a position sensing transducer comprising a touch-sensitivesurface disposed on a substrate, such as a printed circuit board,including a matrix of conductive lines. A first set of conductive linesrun in a first direction and is insulated from a second set ofconductive lines running in a second direction generally perpendicularto the first direction. An insulating layer is disposed over the firstand second sets of conductive lines. The insulating layer is thin enoughto promote significant capacitive coupling between a finger placed onits surface and the first and second sets of conductive lines.

Sensing electronics respond to the proximity of a finger, conductiveobject, or an object of high dielectric constant (i.e., greater thanabout 5) to translate the capacitance changes of the conductors causedby object proximity into digital information which is processed toderive position and touch pressure information. Its output is a simpleX, Y and pressure value of the one object on its surface. In alldescriptions herein, fingers are to be considered interchangeable withconductive objects and objects of high dielectric constant.

Different prior art pad scan techniques have different advantages indifferent environments. Parallel drive/sense techniques according to thepresent invention allow input samples to be taken simultaneously, thusall channels are affected by the same phase of an interfering electricalsignal, greatly simplifying the signal processing and noise filtering.

There are two drive/sense methods employed in the touch sensingtechnology of the present invention. According to a first and presentlypreferred embodiment of the invention, the voltages on all of the Xlines of the sensor matrix are simultaneously moved, while the voltagesof the Y lines are held at a constant voltage, with the complete set ofsampled points simultaneously giving a profile of the finger in the Xdimension. Next, the voltages on all of the Y lines of the sensor matrixare simultaneously moved, while the voltages of the X lines are held ata constant voltage to obtain a complete set of sampled pointssimultaneously giving a profile of the finger in the other dimension.

According to a second drive/sense method, the voltages on all of the Xlines of the sensor matrix are simultaneously moved in a positivedirection, while the voltages of the Y lines are moved in a negativedirection. Next, the voltages on all of the X lines of the sensor matrixare simultaneously moved in a negative direction, while the voltages ofthe Y lines are moved in a positive direction. This technique doublesthe effect of any transcapacitance between the two dimensions, orconversely, halves the effect of any parasitic capacitance to ground. Inboth methods, the capacitive information from the sensing processprovides a profile of the proximity of the finger to the sensor in eachdimension.

As presently preferred, both embodiments then take these profiles andderive a digital value representing the centroid for X and Y positionand derive a second digital value for the Z pressure information. Thedigital information may be directly used by a host computer. Analogprocessing of the capacitive information may also be used according tothe present invention.

The position sensor of these embodiments can only report the position ofone object on its sensor surface. If more than one object is present,the position sensor of this embodiment computes the centroid position ofthe combined set of objects. However, unlike prior art, because theentire pad is being profiled, enough information is available to discernsimple multi-finger gestures to allow for a more powerful userinterface.

According to another aspect of the present invention, several powerreduction techniques which can shut down the circuit betweenmeasurements have been integrated into the system. This is possiblebecause the parallel measurement technique according to the presentinvention is so much faster than prior art techniques.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a variety of noisereduction techniques are integrated into the system.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a capacitancemeasurement technique which is easier to calibrate and implement isemployed.

According to two aspects of the present invention, when the presence ofa finger or other conductive object is sensed within a definedperipheral region of the sensing plane, the control of cursor motion maybe changed to provide “edge motion” to allow control of large cursorexcursions on a display screen from a single gesture executed on a smallsensing plane.

According to another aspect of the invention a drag extension gesture isrecognized by the host which permits the control of large cursorexcursions on a display screen from a single gesture executed on a smallsensing plane.

According to a further object of the present invention, a number ofgestures made by a finger or other object on the touch-sensor pad arerecognized and communicated to a host. Recognition of whether certaingestures are made by novice or expert users is also provided.Compensation for unintended motion of the finger or other object duringexpression of the gestures is provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of the capacitive position sensingsystem of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a top view of an object position sensor transducer accordingto a presently preferred embodiment of the invention showing the objectposition sensor surface layer including a top conductive trace layer andconductive pads connected to a bottom trace layer.

FIG. 2B is a bottom view of the object position sensor transducer ofFIG. 2A showing the bottom conductive trace layer.

FIG. 2C is a composite view of the object position sensor transducer ofFIGS. 2A and 2B showing both the top and bottom conductive trace layers.

FIG. 2D is a cross-sectional view of the object position sensortransducer of FIGS. 2A-2C.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of sensor decoding electronics, which may beused with the sensor transducer in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a simplified schematic diagram of a charge integratorcircuit, which may be used in the present invention.

FIG. 4B is an illustrative schematic diagram of the charge integratorcircuit of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a timing diagram of the operation of charge integrator circuitof FIGS. 4A and 4B.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative filter and sample/holdcircuit for use in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a more detailed block diagram of a presently preferredarrangement of A/D converters for use in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an illustrative arithmetic unit, which maybe used in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a calibration unit, which may be used withthe arithmetic unit of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a bias voltage generating circuituseful in the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of the sensing plane illustrating the edge motionfeature of the object position sensor of the present invention.

FIG. 12A is a schematic diagram illustrating a first hardwareimplementation of the determination of whether a finger or other objectis present in the peripheral regions of the sensing plane.

FIG. 12B is a schematic diagram illustrating a first hardwareimplementation of the determination of whether a finger or other objectis present in the peripheral regions of the sensing plane.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating hardware implementation ofthe edge motion feature of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a more detailed block diagram of gesture unit 20 of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 15A through 15G are timing diagrams illustrating some of thegestures that may be recognized according to the present invention.

FIGS. 16A and 16B are diagrams illustrating two tap zone shapes whichmay be used on sensor pads according to the present invention.

FIGS. 17A through 17F comprise a flowchart illustrating the operation ofthe tap unit of FIG. 14.

FIGS. 18A through 18C comprise a flowchart illustrating the operation ofthe zigzag unit of FIG. 14.

FIG. 19 is a timing diagram illustrating a “push” gesture according tothe present invention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the push unit ofFIG. 14.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of an illustrative LiftJump suppressorcircuit, which may be used in gesture recognition according to thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/810,879, filed Mar. 26, 2004, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/351,208,filed Jan. 23, 2003, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,852, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/899,317, filed Aug.12, 1997, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,936, which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/623,483, filed Mar. 28, 1996, nowissued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,411, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/320,158, filed Oct. 7, 1994, nowissued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,591, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/300,387, filed Sep. 2, 1994, nowissued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,465, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/115,743, filed Aug. 31, 1993, nowissued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,787, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/895,934, filed Jun. 8, 1992, nowabandoned. The present invention continues the approach disclosed in theparent applications and provides more unique features not previouslyavailable. These improvements provide a more easily integrated solution,increased sensitivity, and greater noise rejection, increased dataacquisition rate and decreased power consumption. The present inventionallows for continuous self-calibration to subtract out the effects ofenvironmental changes and allows for enhanced cursor control from edgemotion on a sensing plane.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the followingdescription of the present invention is illustrative only and not in anyway limiting. Other embodiments of the invention will readily suggestthemselves to such skilled persons.

The present invention brings together in combination a number of uniquefeatures, which allow for new applications not before possible. Becausethe object position sensor of the present invention has very low powerrequirements, it is beneficial for use in battery operated or low powerapplications such as lap top or portable computers. It is also a verylow cost solution, has no moving parts (and is therefore virtuallymaintenance free), and uses the existing printed circuit board tracesfor sensors. The sensing technology of the present invention can beintegrated into a computer motherboard to even further lower its cost incomputer applications. Similarly, in other applications the sensor canbe part of an already existent circuit board.

Because of its small size and low profile, the sensor technology of thepresent invention is useful in laptop or portable applications wherevolume is an important consideration. The sensor technology of thepresent invention requires circuit board space for only a single sensorinterface chip that can interface directly to a microprocessor, plus thearea needed on the printed circuit board for sensing.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a simplified block diagram of the capacitiveposition sensing system 6 of the present invention is presented.Capacitive position sensing system 6 can accurately determine theposition of a finger 8 or other conductive object proximate to ortouching a sensing plane 10. The capacitance of a plurality ofconductive lines running in a first direction (e.g., “X”) is sensed by Xinput processing circuitry 12 and the capacitance of a plurality ofconductive lines running in a second direction (e.g., “Y”) is sensed byY input processing circuitry 14. The sensed capacitance values aredigitized in both X input processing circuitry 12 and Y input processingcircuitry 14. The outputs of X input processing circuitry 12 and Y inputprocessing circuitry 14 are presented to arithmetic unit 16, which usesthe digital information to derive digital information representing theposition and pressure of the finger 8 or other conductive objectrelative to the sensing plane 10.

The X, Y, and Z outputs of arithmetic unit 16 are directed to motionunit 18, which provides the cursor motion direction signals to the hostcomputer. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, that asused herein, “host” may mean a stand-alone computer such as an IBM orcompatible PC or computer made by Apple Computers, hand-held controlunits, personal digital assistants, remote communication devices, or thelike, or to any other devices or systems which can take as input theoutput of a touch tablet.

The X, Y, and Z outputs of arithmetic unit 16 are also directed togesture unit 20, which is used to recognize certain finger gesturesperformed by a user on sensing plane 10. In addition, gesture unit 20may produce a signal to motion unit 18 to enable the edge motion featureof the present invention based on the state of gesture processing.

The sensor material can be anything that allows creation of a conductiveX/Y matrix of pads. This includes not only standard PC boards, but alsoincludes but is not limited to flexible PC boards, conductive elastomermaterials, silk-screened conductive lines, and piezo-electric Kynarplastic materials. This renders it useful as well in any portableequipment application or in human interface where the sensor needs to bemolded to fit within the hand.

The sensor can be conformed to any three dimensional surface. Copper canbe plated in two layers on most any surface contour producing thesensor. This will allow the sensor to be adapted to the best ergonomicform needed for any particular application. This coupled with the“light-touch” feature will make it effortless to use in manyapplications. The sensor can also be used in an indirect manner, i.e. itcan have an insulating foam material covered by a conductive layer overthe touch sensing surface and be used to detect any object (not justconductive) that presses against its surface.

Small sensor areas are practical, i.e., a presently conceived embodimenttakes about 1.5″×1.5″ of area, however those of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that the area is scaleable for differentapplications. The matrix area is scaleable by either varying the matrixtrace spacing or by varying the number of traces. Large sensor areas arepractical where more information is needed.

Besides simple X and Y position information, the sensor technology ofthe present invention also provides finger pressure information. Thisadditional dimension of information may be used by programs to controlspecial features such as “brush-width” modes in Paint programs, specialmenu accesses, etc., allowing provision of a more natural sensory inputto computers. It has also been found useful for implementing “mouseclick and drag” modes and for simple input gestures.

The user will not even have to touch the surface to generate the minimumreaction. This feature can greatly minimize user strain and allow formore flexible use.

The sense system of the present invention depends on a transducer devicecapable of providing position and pressure information regarding theobject contacting the transducer. Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2D, top,bottom, composite, and cross-sectional views, respectively, are shown ofa presently preferred sensing plane 10 comprising a touch sensor array22 for use in the present invention. Since capacitance is exploited bythis embodiment of the present invention, the surface of touch sensorarray 22 is designed to maximize the capacitive coupling to a finger orother conductive object.

A presently preferred touch sensor array 22 according to the presentinvention comprises a substrate 24 including a first set of conductivetraces 26 disposed on a top surface 28 thereof and run in a firstdirection to comprise row positions of the touch sensor array 22. Asecond set of conductive traces 30 are disposed on a bottom surface 32thereof and run in a second direction preferably orthogonal to the firstdirection to form the column positions of the touch sensor array 22. Thefirst and second set of conductive traces 26 and 30 are alternately incontact with periodic sense pads 34 comprising enlarged areas, shown asdiamonds in FIGS. 2A-2C. While sense pads 34 are shown as diamonds inFIGS. 2A-2C, any shape, such as circles, which allows them to be closelypacked is equivalent for purposes of this invention. As an arbitraryconvention herein, the first set of conductive traces 26 will bereferred to as being oriented in the “X” or “row” direction and may bereferred to herein sometimes as “X lines” and the second set ofconductive traces 30 will be referred to as being oriented in the “Y” or“column” direction and may be referred to herein sometimes as “Y lines”.

The number and spacing of these sense pads 34 depends upon theresolution desired. For example, in an actual embodiment constructedaccording to the principles of the present invention, a 0.10 inchcenter-to-center diamond-shaped pattern of sense pads 34 disposed alonga matrix of 15 rows and 15 columns of conductors is employed. Everyother sense pad 34 in each direction in the pad pattern is connected tofirst and second sets of conductive traces 26 and 30 on the top andbottom surfaces 28 and 32, respectively of substrate 24.

Substrate 24 may be a printed circuit board, a flexible circuit board,or any of a number of available circuit interconnect technologystructures. Its thickness is unimportant as long as contact may be madetherethrough from the second set of conductive traces 30 to their sensepads 34 on the top surface 28. The printed circuit board comprisingsubstrate 24 can be constructed using standard industry techniques.Board thickness is not important. Connections from the sense pads 34 tothe second set of conductive traces 30 may be made employing standardplated-through hole techniques well known in the printed circuit boardart.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the substrate 24may have a thickness on the order of 0.005 to 0.010 inches. Then thesense pads 34 on the top surface 28 and the plated through holes thatconnect to the second set of conductive traces 30, can be omitted,further reducing the cost of the system.

An insulating layer 36 is disposed over the sense pads 34 on top surface28 to insulate a human finger or other object therefrom. Insulatinglayer 36 is preferably a thin layer (i.e., approximately 5 mils) to keepcapacitive coupling large and may comprise a material, such as mylar,chosen for its protective and ergonomic characteristics. The term“significant capacitive coupling” as used herein shall mean capacitivecoupling having a magnitude greater than about 0.5 pF.

There are two different capacitive effects taking place when a fingerapproaches the touch sensor array 22. The first capacitive effect istrans-capacitance, or coupling between sense pads 34, and the secondcapacitive effect is self-capacitance, or coupling to virtual ground.Sensing circuitry is coupled to the touch sensor array 22 of the presentinvention and responds to changes in either or both of thesecapacitances. This is important because the relative sizes of the twocapacitances change greatly depending on the user environment. Theability of the present invention to detect changes in bothself-capacitance and trans-capacitance results in a very versatilesystem having a wide range of applications.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, a positionsensor system including touch sensor array 22 and associated positiondetection circuitry will detect a finger position on a matrix of printedcircuit board traces via the capacitive effect of finger proximity tothe touch sensor array 22. The position sensor system will report the X,Y position of a finger placed near the touch sensor array 22 to muchfiner resolution than the spacing between the first and second sets ofconductive traces 26 and 30. The position sensor according to thisembodiment of the invention will also report a Z value proportional tothe outline of that finger and hence indicative of the pressure withwhich the finger contacts the surface of insulating layer 36 over thetouch sensor array 22.

According to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, a verysensitive, light-touch detector circuit may be provided using adaptiveanalog and digital VLSI techniques. The circuit of the present inventionis very robust and calibrates out process and systematic errors. Thedetector circuit of the present invention will process the capacitiveinput information and provide digital information, which may bepresented directly to a microprocessor.

According to this embodiment of the invention, sensing circuitry iscontained on a single sensor processor integrated circuit chip. Thesensor processor chip can have any number of X and Y “matrix” inputs.The number of X and Y inputs does not have to be equal. The Integratedcircuit has a digital bus as output. In the illustrative exampledisclosed in FIGS. 2A-2D herein, the touch sensor array 22 has 15 tracesin both the X and Y directions. The sensor processor chip thus has 15 Xinputs and 15 Y inputs. An actual embodiment constructed according tothe principles of the present invention employed 18 traces in the Xdirection and 24 traces in the Y direction. Those of ordinary skill inthe art will recognize that the size of the touch sensor array 22 whichmay be employed in the present invention is arbitrary and will bedictated largely by design choice.

The X and Y matrix nodes are driven and sensed in parallel, with thecapacitive information from each line indicating how close a finger isto that node. The scanned information provides a profile of the fingerproximity in each dimension. According to this aspect of the presentinvention, the profile centroid is derived in both the X and Ydirections and is the position in that dimension. The profile curve ofproximity is also integrated to provide the Z information.

There are two drive and sense methods employed in the touch sensingtechnology of the present invention. According to a first and presentlypreferred embodiment of the invention, the voltages on all of the Xlines of the touch sensor array 22 are simultaneously moved, while thevoltages of the Y lines are held at a constant voltage. Next, thevoltages on all of the Y lines of the touch sensor array 22 aresimultaneously moved, while the voltages of the X lines are held at aconstant voltage. This scanning method accentuates the measurement ofcapacitance to virtual ground provided by the finger. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that the order of these two steps issomewhat arbitrary and may be reversed.

According to a second drive/sense method, the voltages on all of the Xlines of the touch sensor array 22 are simultaneously moved in apositive direction, while the voltages of the Y lines are moved in anegative direction. Next, the voltages on all of the X lines of thetouch sensor array 22 are simultaneously moved in a negative direction,while the voltages of the Y lines are moved in a positive direction.This second drive/sense method accentuates transcapacitance andde-emphasizes virtual ground capacitance. As with the first drive/sensemethod, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that order ofthese two steps is somewhat arbitrary and may be reversed.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of the presently preferredsensing circuitry 40 for use according to the present invention ispresented. This block diagram, and the accompanying disclosure, relatesto the sensing circuitry 40 in one dimension (X) only, and includes theX input processing circuitry 12 of FIG. 1. Those of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate that an identical circuit would be used forsensing the opposite (Y) dimension and would include the Y inputprocessing circuitry 14 of FIG. 1. Such skilled persons will furthernote that the two dimensions do not need to be orthogonal to oneanother. For example, they can be radial or of any other nature to matchthe contour of the touch sensor array 22 and other needs of the system.Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the technologydisclosed herein could be applied as well to a one-dimensional casewhere only one set of conductive traces is used.

The capacitance at each touch sensor array node is represented byequivalent capacitors 42-1 through 42-n. The capacitance of capacitors42-1 through 42-n comprises the capacitance of the matrix conductors andhas a characteristic background value when no object (e.g., a finger) isproximate to the sensing plane 10 of the touch sensor array 22. As anobject approaches the sensing plane 10 the capacitance of capacitors42-1 through 42-n increases in proportion to the size and proximity ofthe object.

According to the present invention, the capacitance at each touch sensorarray 22 node is measured simultaneously using charge integratorcircuits 44-1 through 44-n. Charge-integrator circuits 44-1 through 44-nserve to inject charge into the capacitances 42-1 through 42-n,respectively, and to develop an output voltage proportional to thecapacitance sensed on the corresponding X matrix line. Thuscharge-integrator circuits 44-1 through 44-n are shown as bidirectionalamplifier symbols. Each charge-integrator circuit 44-1 through 44-n issupplied with an operating bias voltage by bias-voltage generatingcircuit 46.

As used herein, the phrase “proportional to the capacitance” means thatthe voltage signal generated is a monotonic function of the sensedcapacitance. In the embodiment described herein, the voltage is directlyand linearly proportional to the capacitance sensed. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that other monotonic functions,including but not limited to inverse proportionality, and non-linearproportionality such as logarithmic or exponential functions, could beemployed in the present invention without departing from the principlesdisclosed herein. In addition current-sensing as well as voltage-sensingtechniques could be employed.

According to a presently preferred drive/sense method used in thepresent invention, the capacitance measurements are performedsimultaneously across all inputs in one dimension to overcome a problemthat is inherent in all prior art approaches that scan individualinputs. The problem with the prior-art approach is that it is sensitiveto high frequency and large amplitude noise (large dv/dt noise) that iscoupled to the circuit via the touching object. Such noise may distortthe finger profile because of noise appearing in a later scan cycle butnot an earlier one, due to a change in the noise level.

The present invention overcomes this problem by “taking a snapshot” ofall inputs simultaneously in X and then Y directions (or visa versa).Because the injected noise is proportional to the finger signal strengthacross all inputs, it is therefore symmetric around the finger centroid.Because it is symmetric around the finger centroid it does not affectthe finger position. Additionally, the charge amplifier performs adifferential measuring function to further reject common-mode noise.

Because of the nature of the charge integrator circuits 44-1 through44-n, their outputs will be changing over time and will have the desiredvoltage output for only a short time. As presently preferred, filtercircuits 48-1 through 48-n are implemented as sample and hold switchedcapacitor filters.

The desired voltage is captured by the filter circuits 48-1 through48-n. As controlled by control circuitry, 56, the filter circuits 48-1through 48-n will filter out any high frequency noise from the sensedsignal. This is accomplished by choosing the capacitor for the filter tobe much larger than the output capacitance of charge integrator circuits44-1 through 44-n. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that the switched capacitor filter circuits 48-1 through 48-nwill capture the desired voltages and store them.

According to the present invention, the capacitance information obtainedin voltage form from the capacitance measurements is digitized andprocessed in digital format. Accordingly, the voltages stored by filtercircuits 48-1 through 48-n are stored in sample/hold circuits 50-1through 50-n so that the remainder of the circuitry processes input datataken at the same time. Sample/hold circuits 50-1 through 50-n may beconfigured as conventional sample/hold circuits as is well known in theart.

The sampled analog voltages at the outputs of sample/hold circuits 50-1through 50-n are digitized by analog-to-digital (A/D) converters 52. Aspresently preferred, A/D converters 52 resolve the input voltage to a10-bit wide digital signal (a resolution of one part in 1,024), althoughthose of ordinary skill in the art will realize that other resolutionsmay be employed. A/D converters 52 may be conventional successiveapproximation type converters as is known in the art.

Given the charge integrator circuitry 44 employed in the presentinvention, the background level (no object present) of the chargeintegrator circuits 44 outputs will be about 1 volt. The ΔV resultingfrom the presence of a finger or other object will typically be about0.4 volt. The voltage range of the A/D converters 52 should therefore bein the range of between about 1-2 volts.

An important consideration is the minimum and maximum voltage referencepoints for the A/D converters 52 (V_(min) and V_(max)). It has beenfound that noise will cause position jitter if these reference voltagesare fixed points. A solution to this problem which is employed in thepresent invention is to dynamically generate the V_(min) and V_(max)reference voltages from reference capacitances 42-V_(min) and42-V_(max), sensed by charge integrator circuits 44-V_(min) and44-V_(max) and processed by filter circuits 48-V_(min) and 48-V_(max)and stored in sample/hold circuits 50-V_(min) and 50-V_(max). In thismanner, any common mode noise present when the signals are sampled fromthe touch sensor array 22 will also be present in the V_(min) andV_(max) reference voltage values and will tend to cancel. Those ofordinary skill in the art will realize that reference capacitances42-V_(min) and 42-V_(max) may either be discrete capacitors or extratraces in the touch sensor array 22.

According to the present invention, the V_(min) reference voltage isgenerated from a capacitor having a value equal to the lowestcapacitance expected to be encountered in the touch sensor array 22 withno object present (about 12 pF assuming a 2 inch square sensor array).The V_(max) reference voltage is generated from a capacitor having avalue equal to the largest capacitance expected to be encountered in thetouch sensor array 22 with an object present (about 16 pF assuming a 2inch square sensor array).

The outputs of A/D converters 52 provide inputs to arithmetic unit 16.As will be more fully disclosed with reference to FIG. 8, the functionof arithmetic unit 16 is to compute the weighted average of the signalson the individual sense lines in both the X and Y directions in thetouch sensor array 22. Thus, arithmetic unit 16 is shared by the X inputprocessing circuitry 12 and the Y input processing circuitry 14 as shownin FIG. 1.

Control circuitry 56 of FIG. 3 orchestrates the operation of theremainder of the circuitry. Because the system is discretely sampled andpipelined in its operation, control circuitry 56 is present to managethe signal flow. The functions performed by control circuitry 56 may beconventionally developed via what is commonly known in the art as astate machine or microcontroller.

The structure and operation of the individual blocks of FIG. 3 will nowbe disclosed. Referring now to FIGS. 4 a, 4 b, and 5, a typical chargeintegrator circuit 44 will be described. Charge integrator circuit 44 isshown as a simplified schematic diagram in FIG. 4 a and as anillustrative schematic diagram in FIG. 4 b. The timing of the operationof charge integrator circuit 44 is shown in FIG. 5. These timing signalsare provided by the control circuitry 56.

Charge integrator circuit 44 is based on the fundamental physicalphenomena of using a current to charge a capacitor. If the capacitor ischarged for a constant time by a constant current, then a voltage willbe produced on the capacitor, which is inversely proportional to thecapacitance. The capacitance to be charged is the sensor array linecapacitance 42 in parallel with an internal capacitor. This internalcapacitor will contain the voltage of interest.

Referring now to FIG. 4 a, a simplified schematic diagram of anillustrative charge integrator circuit 44 is shown. A charge integratorcircuit input node 60 is connected to one of the X (or Y) lines of thetouch sensor array 22. A first shorting switch 62 is connected betweenthe charge integrator circuit input node 60 and V_(DD), the positivesupply rail. A second shorting switch 64 is connected between the chargeintegrator circuit input node 60 and ground, the negative supply rail. Apositive constant current source 66 is connected to V_(DD), the positivesupply rail and to the charge integrator circuit input node 60 andthrough a first current source switch 68. A negative constant currentsource 70 is connected to ground and to the charge integrator circuitinput node 60 and through a second current source switch 72. It isobvious that other high and low voltage rails could be used in place ofV_(DD) and ground.

A first internal capacitor 74 is connected between V_(DD) and outputnode 76 of charge integrator circuit 44. A positive voltage storageswitch 78 is connected between output node 76 and input node 60. Asecond internal capacitor 80 has one of its plates connected to groundthrough a switch 82 and to output node 76 of charge integrator circuit44 through a switch 84, and the other one of its plates connected toinput node 60 through a negative voltage storage switch 86 and to V_(DD)through a switch 88. The capacitance of first and second internalcapacitors 74 and 80 should be a small fraction (i.e., about 10%) of thecapacitance of the individual sensor array lines. In a typicalembodiment, the sensor array line capacitance will be about 10 pF andthe capacitance of capacitors 74 and 80 should be about 1 pF.

According to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, theapproach used is a differential measurement for added noise immunity,the benefit of which is that any low frequency common mode noise getssubtracted out. For the following discussion, it is to be assumed thatall switches are open unless they are noted as closed. First, the sensorarray line is momentarily shorted to V_(DD) through switch 62, switch 78is closed connecting capacitor 74 in parallel with the capacitance ofthe sensor line. Then the parallel capacitor combination is dischargedwith a constant current from current source 70 through switch 72 for afixed time period. At the end of the fixed time period, switch 78 isopened, thus storing the voltage on the sensor array line on capacitor74.

The sensor line is then momentarily shorted to ground through switch 64,and switches 82 and 86 are closed to place capacitor 80 in parallel withthe capacitance of the sensor line. Switch 68 is closed and the parallelcapacitor combination is charged with a constant current from currentsource 66 for a fixed time period equal to the fixed time period of thefirst cycle. At the end of the fixed time period, switch 86 is opened,thus storing the voltage on the sensor matrix line on capacitor 80.

The first and second measured voltages are then averaged. This isaccomplished by opening switch 82 and closing switches 88 and 84, whichplaces capacitor 80 in parallel with capacitor 74. Because capacitors 74and 80 have the same capacitance, the resulting voltage across them isequal to the average of the voltages across each individually. Thisfinal result is the value that is then passed on to the appropriate oneof filter circuits 48-1 through 48-n.

The low frequency noise, notably 50/60 Hz and their harmonics, behavesas a DC current component that adds in one measurement and subtracts inthe other. When the two results are added together that noise componentaverages to zero. The amount of noise rejection is a function of howquickly in succession the two opposing charge-up and charge-down cyclesare performed as will be disclosed herein. One of the reasons for thechoice of this charge integrator circuit 44 is that it allowsmeasurements to be taken quickly.

Referring now to FIG. 4 b, a more complete schematic diagram of anillustrative embodiment of charge integrator circuit 44 of thesimplified diagram of FIG. 4 a is shown. Input node 60 is shownconnected to V_(DD) and ground through pass gates 90 and 92, whichreplace switches 62 and 64 of FIG. 4 a. Pass gate 90 is controlled by asignal ResetUp presented to its control input and pass gate 92 iscontrolled by a signal ResetDn presented to its control input. Those ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that pass gates 90 and 92, aswell as all of the other pass gates which are represented by the samesymbol in FIG. 4 b may be conventional CMOS pass gates as are known inthe art. The convention used herein is that the pass gate will be offwhen its control input is held low and will be on and present a lowimpedance connection when its control input is held high.

P-Channel MOS transistors 94 and 96 are configured as a current mirror.P-Channel MOS transistor 94 serves as the current source 66 and passgate 98 serves as switch 68 of FIG. 4 a. The control input of pass gate98 is controlled by a signal StepUp.

N-Channel MOS transistors 100 and 102 are also configured as a currentmirror. N-Channel MOS transistor 100 serves as the current source 70 andpass gate 104 serves as switch 72 of FIG. 4 a. The control input of passgate 104 is controlled by a signal StepDn. P-Channel MOS transistor 106and N-Channel MOS transistor 108 are placed in series with P-Channel MOScurrent mirror transistor 96 and N-Channel MOS current mirror transistor102. The control gate of P-Channel MOS transistor 106 is driven by anenable signal EN, which turns on P-Channel MOS transistor 106 toenergize the current mirrors. This device is used as a powerconservation device so that the charge integrator circuit 44 may beturned off to conserve power when it is not in use.

N-Channel MOS transistor 108 has its gate driven by a reference voltageVbias, which sets the current through current mirror transistors 96 and102. The voltage Vbias is set by a servo feedback circuit as will bedisclosed in more detail with reference to FIG. 10. Those of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that this embodiment allows calibrationto occur in real time (via long time constant feedback) thereby zeroingout any long-term effects due to sensor environmental changes. In acurrent embodiment of the invention, Vbias is common for all chargeintegrator circuits 44-1 through 44-n and 44-V_(max) and 44-V_(min).

Note that proper sizing of N-channel MOS transistors 102 and 108 mayprovide temperature compensation. This is accomplished by takingadvantage of the fact that the threshold of N-Channel MOS transistor 108reduces with temperature while the mobility of both N-Channel MOStransistors 102 and 108 reduce with temperature. The threshold reductionhas the effect of increasing the current while the mobility reductionhas the effect of decreasing the current. By proper device sizing theseeffects can cancel each other out over a significant part of theoperating range.

Capacitor 74 has one plate connected to V_(DD) and the other plateconnected to the output node 76 and to the input node 60 through passgate 110, shown as switch 78 in FIG. 4 a. The control input of pass gate110 is driven by the control signal SUp. One plate of capacitor 80 isconnected to input node 60 through pass gate 112 (switch 86 in FIG. 4 a)and to V_(DD) through pass gate 114 (switch 88 in FIG. 4 a). The controlinput of pass gate 112 is driven by the control signal SDn and thecontrol input of pass gate 114 is driven by the control signal ChUp. Theother plate of capacitor 80 is connected to ground through N-Channel MOStransistor 116 (switch 82 in FIG. 4 a) and to output node 76 throughpass gate 118 (switch 84 in FIG. 4 a). The control input of pass gate118 is driven by control signal Share.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 a, 4 b and the timing diagram of FIG. 5, theoperation of charge integrator circuit 44 during one scan cycle may beobserved. First the EN (enable) control signal goes active by going to 0v. This turns on the current mirrors and energizes the charge anddischarge current sources, P-channel and N-channel MOS transistors 94and 100. The ResetUp control signal is active high at this time, whichshorts the input node 60 (and the sensor line to which it is connected)to V_(DD). The SUp control signal is also active high at this time whichconnects capacitor 74 and the output node 76 to input node 60. Thisarrangement guarantees that the following discharge portion of theoperating cycle always starts from a known equilibrium state.

The discharge process starts after the ResetUp control signal goesinactive. The StepDn control signal goes active, connecting N-channelMOS transistor 100, the discharge current source, to the input node 60and its associated sensor line. StepDn is active for a set amount oftime, and the negative constant current source discharges the combinedcapacitance of the sensor line and capacitor 74 thus lowering itsvoltage during that time. StepDn is then turned off. A short time laterthe SUp control signal goes inactive, storing the measured voltage oncapacitor 74. That ends the discharge cycle.

Next, the ResetDn control signal becomes active and shorts the sensorline to ground. Simultaneously the SDn and ChDn control signals becomeactive and connect capacitor 80 between ground and the sensor line.Capacitor 80 is discharged to ground, guaranteeing that the followingcharge up cycle always starts from a known state.

The charge up cycle starts after ResetDn control signal becomes inactiveand the StepUp control signal becomes active. At this point the currentcharging source, P-channel MOS transistor 94, is connected to the sensorline and supplies a constant current to charge the sensor line byincreasing the voltage thereon. The StepUp control signal is active fora set amount of time (preferably equal to the time for the previouslymentioned cycle) allowing the capacitance to charge, and then it isturned off. The SDn control signal then goes inactive, leaving themeasured voltage across capacitor 80.

The averaging cycle now starts. First the voltage on capacitor 80 islevel shifted. This is done by the ChDn control signal going inactive,letting one plate of the capacitor 80 float. Then the ChUp controlsignal goes active, connecting the second plate of the capacitor toV_(DD). Then the Share control signal becomes active which connects thefirst plate of capacitor 80 to output node 76, thus placing capacitors74 and 80 in parallel. This has the effect of averaging the voltagesacross the two capacitors 74 and 80, thus subtracting out common-modenoise as previously described. This average voltage is also thenavailable on output node 76.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the environmentalalternating current and other low frequency noise-canceling featureinherent in the averaging of the voltages obtained in the discharge andcharge cycles is most effective when the two cycles are performed veryclose together in time. According to the present invention, the ChDn andChUp signals should be asserted with respect to each other within a timeperiod much less than a quarter of the period of the noise to becanceled in order to take advantage of this feature of the presentinvention.

According to the present invention, two different drive/sense methodshave been disclosed. Those of ordinary skill in the art will readilyobserve that the charge integrator circuit 44 disclosed with referenceto FIGS. 4 a, 4 b, and 5 is adaptable to operate according to eitherscanning method disclosed herein.

As is clear from an understanding of the operation of charge integratorcircuit 44, its output voltage is only available for a short period oftime and is subject to environmental noise. In order to minimize theeffects of noise, a switched capacitor filter circuit 48 is used.Referring now to FIG. 6, a schematic diagram of an illustrative switchedcapacitor filter circuit 48 which may be used in the present inventionis shown. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thisswitched capacitor filter circuit, which comprises an input node 120, apass gate 122 having a control input driven by a Sample control signal,a capacitor 124 connected between the output of the pass gate 122 and afixed voltage such as ground, and an output node 126 comprising thecommon connection between the capacitor 124 and the output of the passgate 122. In a typical embodiment, capacitor 124 will have a capacitanceof about 10 pF.

As will be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art, theswitched capacitor filter circuit 48 is in part a sample/hold circuitand has a filter time constant which is K times the period of sample,where K is the ratio of capacitor 124 to the sum of capacitors 74 and 80of the charge integrator circuit 44 of FIGS. 4 a and 4 b to which it isconnected. The switched capacitor filter circuit 48 further reducesnoise injection in the system. In the preferred embodiment, K=10/2=5.Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other types offilter circuits, such as RC filters, may be employed in the presentinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a more detailed block diagram of a presentlypreferred arrangement of A/D converters 52 of FIG. 3 is presented. Thereare fewer A/D converters 52 than there are lines in the touch sensorarray 22, and the inputs to the A/D converters 52 are multiplexed toshare each of the individual A/D converters 52 among several lines inthe touch sensor array 22. The arrangement in FIG. 7 is more efficientin the use of integrated circuit layout area than providing individualA/D converters 52 for each input line.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, twenty-four conductive linetraces are assumed for the touch sensor array 22 of FIGS. 2 a-2 d. Asshown in FIG. 7, the outputs of sample/hold circuits 50-1 through 50-24are fed to the analog data inputs of analog multiplexer 130. Analogmultiplexer 130 has six outputs, each of which drives the input of anindividual A/D converter 52-1 through 52-6. The internal arrangement ofanalog multiplexer 130 is such that four different ones of the inputsare multiplexed to each of the outputs. Analog multiplexer 130 has beenconceptually drawn as six internal multiplexer blocks 132-1 through132-6.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, inputs taken from sample/hold circuits50-1 through 50-4 are multiplexed to the output of internal multiplexerblock 132-1, which drives A/D converter 52-1. Similarly, inputs takenfrom sample/hold circuits 50-5 through 50-8 are multiplexed to theoutput of internal multiplexer block 132-2 which drives A/D converter52-2; inputs taken from sample/hold circuits 50-9 through 50-12 aremultiplexed to the output of internal multiplexer block 132-3 whichdrives A/D converter 52-3; inputs taken from sample/hold circuits 50-13through 50-16 are multiplexed to the output of internal multiplexerblock 132-4 which drives A/D converter 52-4; inputs taken fromsample/hold circuits 50-17 through 50-20 are multiplexed to the outputof internal multiplexer block 132-5 which drives A/D converter 52-5; andinputs taken from sample/hold circuits 50-21 through 50-24 aremultiplexed to the output of internal multiplexer block 132-6 whichdrives A/D converter 52-6.

Analog multiplexer 130 has a set of control inputs schematicallyrepresented by bus 134. In the illustrative embodiment shown in FIG. 7,each of internal multiplexers 132-1 through 132-6 are four-inputmultiplexers and thus control bus 134 may comprise a two-bit bus for aone-of-four selection. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognizethat the arrangement of FIG. 7 is merely one of a number of specificsolutions to the task of A/D conversion from twenty-four channels, andthat other satisfactory equivalent arrangements are possible.

In a straightforward decoding scheme, multiplexers 132-1 through 132-6will pass, in sequence, the analog voltages present on their firstthrough fourth inputs on to the inputs of A/D converters 52-1 through52-6 respectively. After the analog values have settled in the inputs ofA/D converters 52-1 through 52-6, a CONVERT command is asserted oncommon A/D control line 136 to begin the A/D conversion process.

When the A/D conversion process is complete, the digital valuerepresenting the input voltage is stored in registers 138-1 through138-6. As presently preferred, registers 138-1 through 138-6 may eachcomprise a two-word register, so that one word may be read out of theregisters 138-1 through 138-6 to arithmetic unit 16 while a second wordis being written into the registers 138-1 through 138-6 in order tomaximize the speed of the system. The design of such registers 138-1through 138-6 is conventional in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a more detailed block diagram of the arithmeticunit 16 is presented. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciatethat arithmetic unit 16 processes information from both the X and Ydimensions, i.e., from X input processing circuit 12 and Y inputprocessing circuit 14 of FIG. 1.

Before disclosing the structural configuration of arithmetic unit 16, itis helpful to understand the preferred method by which the centroidposition of an object proximate to the touch sensor array 22 isdetermined according to the present invention.

According to a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, theobject position in either direction may be determined by evaluating theweighted average of the capacitances measured on the individual senseline of the touch sensor array 22. In the following discussion, the Xdirection is used, but those of ordinary skill in the art will recognizethat the discussion applies to the determination of the weighted averagein the Y direction as well. As is well known, the weighted average maybe determined as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{{X\mspace{14mu}{position}} = \frac{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}{{iH}\;\Delta\; C_{i}}}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}{\Delta\; C_{i}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$where ΔC_(i)=C_(i)−C0_(i). C_(i) is the capacitance presently beingmeasured on the ith trace and C0_(i) is the value measured on that sametrace at some past time when no object was present. In terms of thesepast and present capacitance measurements, the position can be expressedas:

$\begin{matrix}{{Xposition} = \frac{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}{i\;{H\left( {C_{i} - {C\; 0_{i}}} \right)}}}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}\left( {C_{i} - {C\; 0_{i}}} \right)}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Using the distributive property of multiplication over addition, thisexpression is seen to be equivalent to:

$\begin{matrix}{{Xposition} = \frac{{- {\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}\left( {i\;{HC}\; 0_{i}} \right)}} + {\underset{i = 0}{\overset{m}{3}}\left( {i\;{HC}_{i}} \right)}}{{{- \underset{i = 0}{\overset{n}{3}}}\left( {C\; 0_{i}} \right)} + {\underset{i = 0}{\overset{n}{3}}\left( C_{i} \right)}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 3} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$where the negative terms in both the numerator and denominator areoffsets and represent the background value of the capacitances with noobject present. If the term O_(N) is used to represent the numeratoroffset and the term O_(D) is used to represent the denominator offset,Eq. 3 may be re-written as:

$\begin{matrix}{{Xposition} = \frac{{- O_{N}} + {\underset{i = 0}{\overset{n}{3}}\left( {i\;{HC}_{i}} \right)}}{{- O_{D}} + {\underset{i = 0}{\overset{n}{3}}\left( C_{i} \right)}}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 4} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Referring now to FIG. 8, it may be seen that arithmetic unit 16 includesX numerator and denominator accumulators 150 and 152 and Y numerator anddenominator accumulators 154 and 156. The source of operand data for Xnumerator and denominator accumulators 150 and 152 and Y numerator anddenominator accumulators 154 and 156 are the registers 138-1 through138-6 in each (X and Y) direction of the touch sensor array 22 ofFIG. 1. The X and Y denominator accumulators 152 and 156 sum up thedigital results from the A/D conversions. The X and Y numeratoraccumulators 150 and 154 compute the weighted sum of the input datarather than the straight sum. X and Y numerator and denominatoraccumulators 150, 152, 154, and 156 may be configured as hardwareelements or as software running on a microprocessor as will be readilyunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art.

As may be seen from an examination of FIG. 8, X and Y numeratoraccumulators 150 and 154 compute the expression of Eq. 4:

$\begin{matrix}{\underset{i = 0}{\overset{n}{3}}i\;{HC}_{i}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 5} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$and X and Y denominator accumulators 152 and 156 compute the expressionof Eq. 4:

$\begin{matrix}{\underset{i = 0}{\overset{n}{3}}C_{i}} & \left\lbrack {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 6} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

The contents of X and Y numerator and denominator offset registers 158,160, 162, and 164 are subtracted from the results stored in the X and Ynumerator and denominator accumulators 150, 152, 154, and 156 in adders166, 168, 170, and 172. Adder 166 subtracts the offset O_(NX) stored inX numerator offset register 158. Adder 168 subtracts the offset O_(DX)stored in X denominator offset register 160. Adder 170 subtracts theoffset O_(NY) stored in Y numerator offset register 162. Adder 172subtracts the offset O_(DY) stored in Y denominator offset register 164.The numerator denominator pairs are divided by division blocks 174 and176 to produce the X and Y position data, and the X and Y denominatorpair is used by block 178 to produce Z axis (pressure) data. Thefunction performed by block 178 will be disclosed later herein. Theoffsets O_(DX), O_(NX), O_(DY), and O_(NY) are sampled from the contentsof the X and Y numerator and denominator accumulator 150, 152, 154 and156 when directed by calibration unit 180.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that thearchitecture of the system of the present invention may be distributedin a number of ways, several of which involve the availability of amicroprocessor, whether it be in a host computer to which the system ofthe present invention is connected or somewhere between the integratedcircuit described herein and a host computer. Embodiments of the presentinvention are contemplated wherein the accumulated numerator anddenominator values representing the summation terms are delivered tosuch a microprocessor along with the O_(N) and O_(D) offset values forprocessing, or where all processing is accomplished by a programmedmicroprocessor as is known in the art.

Initially, the X and Y numerator and denominator accumulators 150, 152,154, and 156 are set to zero during system startup. If the multiplexedA/D converters 52-1 through 52-6 as shown in FIG. 7 are employed, thedigitized voltage data in the first word of register 138-1 (representingthe voltage at the output of sample/hold circuit 50-1) is added to thesum in the accumulator and the result stored in the accumulator. Insuccession, the digitized voltage values stored in the first word ofregisters 138-2 through 138-6 (representing the voltage at the outputsof sample/hold circuits 50-5, 50-9, 50-13, 50-17, and 50-21,respectively) are added to the sums in the accumulators and the resultsstored in the accumulators. As previously mentioned, A/D converters 52-1through 52-6 may at this time be converting the voltages present at theoutputs of sample/hold circuits 50-2, 50-6, 50-10, 50-14, 50-18, and50-22 and storing the digitized values in the second words of registers138-1 through 138-6 respectively.

Next, in succession, the digitized voltage values stored in the secondwords of registers 138-1 through 138-6 (representing the voltage at theoutputs of-sample/hold circuits 50-2, 50-6, 50-10, 50-14, 50-18, and50-22, respectively) are added to the sum in the accumulator and theresult stored in the accumulator.

Next, in succession, the digitized voltage values stored in the firstwords of registers 138-1 through 138-6 (representing the voltage at theoutputs of sample/hold circuits 50-3, 50-7, 50-11, 50-15, 50-19, and50-23, respectively) are added to the sum in the accumulator and theresult stored in the accumulator, followed by digitized voltage valuesstored in the second words of registers 138-1 through 138-6(representing the voltage at the outputs of sample/hold circuits 50-4,50-8, 50-12, 50-16, 50-20, and 50-24, respectively).

At this point in time, the accumulators hold the sums of all of theindividual digitized voltage values. The digital values stored in theO_(N) and O_(D) offset registers 158, 160, 162, and 164 are nowrespectively subtracted from the values stored in the numerator anddenominator accumulators. The division operation in dividers 174 and 176then completes the weighted average computation.

The division operation may also be performed by an externalmicroprocessor which can fetch the values stored in the accumulators orperform the accumulations itself. As the O_(N) and O_(D) offset valuesare presently derived by an external microprocessor, the additionalprocessing overhead presented to such external microprocessor by thisdivision operation is minimal. Alternately, a dedicated microprocessormay be included on chip to handle these processing tasks withoutdeparting from the invention disclosed herein.

The above-disclosed processing takes place within about 1 millisecondand may be repeatedly performed. Current mouse standards update positioninformation 40 times per second, and thus the apparatus of the presentinvention may easily be operated at this repetition rate.

Because of the nature of the method employed in the present invention,an opportunity exists to provide additional noise immunity withoutrequiring additional hardware in the system of the present invention.While it is apparent that after the above-disclosed sequence has beenperformed, the accumulators may be cleared and the process repeated, thevalues may also be allowed to remain in the accumulators. If this isdone, an averaging function may be implemented to further filter outnoise. According to this aspect of the invention, a number of samplesare taken and run through the accumulators without clearing them at theend of the processing sequence. As presently preferred, twenty-fivesamples are processed before a single division result is taken for useby the system, thus greatly reducing the effects of transient systemnoise spikes. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thenumber of samples taken prior to clearing the accumulators is a matterof design choice dictated by factors such as data acquisition rates,data processing rates etc.

It is preferable to provide additional filtering of the X and Y positiondata produced by division blocks 174 and 176 of the arithmetic unit 16of FIG. 8. The filtering preferably occurs in between arithmetic unit 16and motion and gesture units 18 and 20 of FIG. 1. The X and Ycoordinates are separately filtered as independent numbers. Each filteris an averaging register computing a “running average” as is well knownin the art. When the finger's presence is first detected, the filterregister is initialized with the current quotient. In subsequentsamples, the new quotient is averaged with the filter register value toproduce a new filter register value. In the presently preferredembodiment, the values are equally weighted in the average, thoughdifferent weightings can be used to provide stronger or weakerfiltering. The sequence of values in the filter register serve as the Xand Y coordinates used by the motion and gesture units 18 and 20 of FIG.1.

The system of the present invention is adaptable to changing conditions,such as component aging, changing capacitance due to humidity, andcontamination of the touch surface, etc. In addition, the presentinvention effectively minimizes ambient noise. According to the presentinvention, these effects are taken into consideration in three ways.First, the offset values O_(N) and O_(D) are dynamically updated toaccommodate changing conditions. Second, a servo-feedback circuit isprovided to determine the bias voltage used to set the bias of thecharge-integrator circuits 44-1 through 44-n. Third, as previouslydisclosed herein, the reference voltage points for V_(max) and V_(min)of the A/D converters 52 are also dynamically altered to increase thesignal to noise margin.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a block diagram of a calibration unit 180 whichmay be used with the arithmetic unit of FIG. 8 is presented. Thecalibration unit 180 executes an algorithm to establish the numeratorand denominator offset values by attempting to determine when no fingeror other conductive object is proximate to the touch sensor array 22.

As previously disclosed, the O_(N) and O_(D) offset values represent thebaseline values of the array capacitances with no object present. Thesevalues are also updated according to the present invention sincebaseline levels that are too low or too high have the effect of shiftingthe apparent position of the object depending on the sign of the error.These values are established by selection of the values read when noobject is present at the touch sensor array 22. Since there is noexternal way to “know” when no object is present at touch sensor array22, an algorithm according to another aspect of the present invention isused to establish and dynamically update these offset values. When thecalibration unit 180 sees a Z value which appears typical of the Zvalues when no finger is present, it instructs the offset registers(158, 160, 162, and 164 of FIG. 8) to reload from the current values ofthe X and Y numerator and denominator accumulators 150, 152, 154 and156. According to a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, thedecision to update the offset values is based on the behavior of thetouch sensor array 22 in only one of the X or Y directions, but when thedecision is made all four offsets (O_(NX), O_(DX), O_(NY), and O_(DY))are updated. In other embodiments of the invention, the decision toupdate may be individually made for each direction according to thecriteria set forth herein.

The calibration algorithm works by monitoring changes in a selected oneof the denominator accumulator values. According to the presentinvention, it has been observed that the sensitivity to changes incapacitance of one of the sets of conductive lines in the touch sensorarray 22 is greater than the sensitivity to changes in capacitance ofthe other one of the sets of conductive lines in the touch sensor array22. Experience suggests that the set of conductive lines having thegreater sensitivity to capacitance changes is the one which isphysically located above the set of conductive lines in the otherdirection and therefore closest to the touch surface of the touch sensorarray 22. The upper set of conductive lines tends to partially shieldthe lower set of conductive lines from capacitive changes occurringabove the surface of the touch sensor array 22.

The finger pressure is obtained by summing the capacitances measured onthe sense lines. This value is already present in the denominatoraccumulator after subtracting the offset O_(D). A finger is present ifthe pressure exceeds a suitable threshold value. This threshold may bechosen experimentally and is a function of surface material and circuittiming. The threshold may be adjusted to suit the tastes of theindividual user.

The pressure reported by the device is a simple function f(X_(D), Y_(D))of the denominators for the X and Y directions as implemented in block178 of FIG. 8. Possible functions include choosing one preferreddenominator value, or summing the denominators. In a presently preferredembodiment, the smaller of the two denominators is chosen. This choicehas the desirable effect of causing the pressure to go below thethreshold if the finger moves slightly off the edge of the pad, wherethe X sensors are producing valid data, but the Y sensors are not, orvise versa. This acts as an electronic bezel, which can take the placeof a mechanical bezel at the periphery of the sensor area.

In the example of FIG. 8, the Y denominator is chosen for monitoringbecause it is the most sensitive. The chosen denominator is referred toas Z for the purposes of the calibration algorithm. The current savedoffset value for this denominator is referred to as O_(Z).

The goal of the calibration algorithm is to track gradual variations inthe resting Z level while making sure not to calibrate to the finger,nor to calibrate to instantaneous spikes arising from noise. As will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the followingdisclosure, the calibration algorithm could be implemented in digital oranalog hardware, or in software. In a current embodiment actually testedby the inventors, it is implemented in software.

As Z values arrive in the calibration unit 180, they are passed throughfilter 182. History buffer 184, which operates in conjunction withfilter 182, keeps a “running average” of recent Z values. When a new Zvalue arrives, the current running average F_(Z) is updated according tothe formula:new F _(Z)=□(old F _(Z))+(1−□)Z  [Eq. 7]where F is a constant factor between 0 and 1 and typically close to 1and Z is the current Z value. In the preferred embodiment, alpha isapproximately 0.95. The intention is for F_(Z) to change slowly enoughto follow gradual variations, without being greatly affected by shortperturbations in Z.

The filter 182 receives a signal ENABLE from control unit 186. Therunning average F_(Z) is updated based on new Z values only when ENABLEis asserted. If ENABLE is deasserted, F_(Z) remains constant and isunaffected by current Z.

The history buffer 184 records the several most recent values of F_(Z).In the present embodiment, the history buffer 184 records the twoprevious F_(Z) values. The history buffer 184 might be implemented as ashift register, circular queue, or analog delay line. When the historybuffer 184 receives a REWIND signal from control unit 186, it restoresthe current running average F_(Z) to the oldest saved value. It is as ifthe filter 182 were “retroactively” disabled for an amount of timecorresponding to the depth of the history buffer 184. The purpose of thehistory buffer 184 is to permit such retroactive disabling.

The current running average F_(Z) is compared against the current Zvalue and the current offset O_(Z) by absolute difference units 188 and190, and comparator 192. Absolute difference unit 188 subtracts thevalues Z and F_(Z) and outputs the absolute value of their difference.Absolute difference unit 190 subtracts the values O_(Z) and F_(Z) andoutputs the absolute value of their difference. Comparator 192 assertsthe UPDATE signal if the output of absolute difference unit 188 is lessthan the output of absolute difference unit 190, i.e., if F_(Z) iscloser to Z than it is to O_(Z). The UPDATE signal will tend to beasserted when the mean value of Z shifts to a new resting level. It willtend not to be asserted when Z makes a brief excursion away from itsnormal resting level. The filter constant α determines the length of anexcursion that will be considered “brief” for this purpose.

Subtractor unit 194 is a simple subtractor that computes the signeddifference between Z and O_(Z). This subtractor is actually redundantwith subtractor 172 in FIG. 8, and so may be merged with it in theactual implementation. The output C_(Z) of this subtractor is thecalibrated Z value, an estimate of the finger pressure. This pressurevalue is compared against a positive and negative Z threshold bycomparators 196 and 198. These thresholds are shown as Z_(TH) and−Z_(TH), although they are not actually required to be equal inmagnitude.

If pressure signal C_(Z) is greater than Z_(TH), the signal FINGER isasserted indicating the possible presence of a finger. The Z_(TH)threshold used by the calibration unit 180 is similar to that used bythe rest of the system to detect the presence of the finger, or it mayhave a different value. In the present embodiment, the calibrationZ_(TH) is set somewhat lower than the main Z_(TH) to ensure that thecalibration unit 180 makes a conservative choice about the presence of afinger.

If pressure signal C_(Z) is less than −Z_(TH), the signal FORCE isasserted. Since O_(Z) is meant to be equal to the resting value of Zwith no finger present, and a finger can only increase the sensorcapacitance and thus the value of Z, a largely negative C_(Z) impliesthat the device must have incorrectly calibrated itself to a finger,which has just been removed. Calibration logic 200 uses this fact toforce a recalibration now that the finger is no longer present.

Control logic 186 is responsible for preventing running average F_(Z)from being influenced by Z values that occur when a finger is present.Output ENABLE is generally off when the FINGER signal is true, and onwhen the FINGER signal is false. However, when FINGER transitions fromfalse to true, the control unit 186 also pulses the REWIND signal. WhenFINGER transitions from true to false, the control unit 186 waits ashort amount of time (comparable to the depth of the history buffer 184)before asserting ENABLE. Thus, the running average is prevented fromfollowing Z whenever a finger is present, as well as for a short timebefore and after the finger is present.

Calibration logic 200 produces signal RECAL from the outputs of thethree comparators 192, 196, and 198. When RECAL is asserted, the offsetregisters O_(N) and O_(D) will be reloaded from the current accumulatorvalues. RECAL is produced from the following logic equation:RECAL=FORCE or (UPDATE and not FINGER).  [Eq. 8]

In addition, calibration logic 200 arranges to assert RECAL once whenthe system is first initialized, possibly after a brief period to waitfor the charge integrators and other circuits to stabilize.

From the descriptions of control unit 186 and calibration logic 200, itwill be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that these blockscan be readily configured using conventional logic as a matter of simpleand routine logic design.

It should be obvious to any person of ordinary skill in the art that thecalibration algorithm described is not specific to the particular systemof charge integrators and accumulators of the current invention. Rather,it could be employed in any touch sensor which produces proximity orpressure data in which it is desired to maintain a calibration pointreflecting the state of the sensor when no finger or spurious noise ispresent.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a bias voltage generating circuit 46 useful inthe present invention is shown in schematic diagram form. According to apresently preferred embodiment of the invention, all of the N-channelMOS bias transistors 108 (FIG. 4 b) of charge integrator circuits 44-1through 44-n have their gates connected to a single source of biasvoltage, although persons of ordinary skill in the art recognize thatother arrangements are possible. There are a number of ways in which togenerate the bias voltage required by charge integrator circuits 44-1through 4-n.

As may be seen from an examination of FIG. 10, the bias voltagegenerating circuit 46 is an overdamped servo system. A reference sourcewhich approximates the current source function of a typical one of thecharge integrator circuits 44-1 through 44-n includes a capacitor 202having one of its plates grounded. The other one of its plates isconnected to the V_(DD) power supply through a first pass gate 204 andto a current source transistor 206 through a second passgate 208. Afilter circuit 210, identical to the filter circuits 48-1 through 48-nand controlled by the same signal as filter circuits 48-1 through 48-nis connected to sample the voltage on capacitor 202 in the same mannerthat the filter-and-sample/hold circuits 48-1 through 48-n sample thevoltages on the sensor conductor capacitances in the touch sensor array22.

The output of filter circuit 210 is fed to the non-inverting input of aweak transconductance amplifier 212, having a bias current in the rangeof from about 0.1-0.2 μA. The inverting input of the transconductanceamplifier 212 is connected to a fixed voltage of about 1 volt generated,for example, by diode 214 and resistor 216. The output oftransconductance amplifier 212 is shunted by capacitor 218 and also bycapacitor 220 through passgate 222. Capacitor 220 is chosen to be muchlarger than capacitor 218. In a typical embodiment of the presentinvention, capacitor 218 may be about 0.2 pF and capacitor 220 may beabout 10 pF.

Capacitor 220 is connected to the gate of N-Channel MOS transistor 224,which has its drain connected to the drain and gate of P-Channel MOStransistor 226 and its source connected to the drain and gate ofN-Channel MOS transistor 228. The source of P-Channel MOS transistor 226is connected to V_(DD) and the source of N-Channel MOS transistor 228 isconnected to ground. The common drain connection of transistors 224 and228 is the bias voltage output node.

An optional passgate 230 may be connected between a fixed voltage source(e.g., about 2 volts) and capacitor 220. Passgate 230 may be used toinitialize the bias generating circuit 46 on startup by chargingcapacitor 220 to the fixed voltage.

During each sample period, the filter circuit 210 takes a new sample. Ifthe new sample differs from the previous sample, the output voltage oftransconductance amplifier 212 will change and start to charge ordischarge capacitor 218 to a new voltage. Passgate 222 is switched onfor a short time (i.e., about 1 μsec) and the voltages on capacitors 218and 220 try to average themselves. Due to the large size differencebetween capacitors 218 and 220, capacitor 218 cannot supply enoughcharge to equalize the voltage during the period when passgate 222 isopen. This arrangement prevents large changes in bias voltage from cycleto cycle.

Capacitor 202 should look as much as possible like one of the sensorarray lines and has a value equal to the background capacitance of atypical sensor line, (i.e., with no object proximate or presentcapacitance component). Capacitor 202 may be formed in several ways.Capacitor 202 may comprise an extra sensor line in a part of the sensorarray, configured to approximate one of the active sensor lines butshielded from finger capacitance by a ground plane, etc. Alternately,capacitor 202 may be a capacitor formed in the integrated circuit orconnected thereto and having a value selected to match that of a typicalsensor line. In this respect, the signal source comprising capacitor 202and filter circuit 210 is somewhat like the circuitry for generating theV_(max) and V_(min) reference voltages, in that it mimics a typicalsensor line.

As another alternative, one of the actual sensor lines may be employedto set the bias voltage. The measured voltage on the two end-pointsensor lines may be compared and the one having the lowest value may beselected on the theory that, if a finger or other object is proximate tothe sensor array, it will not be present at sensor lines located at theopposite edges of the array.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an “edge motion”feature may be implemented when the object position sensor of thepresent invention is used as a computer cursor control device in placeof a mouse. A practical problem arises in the use of computer mice orother cursor control devices when an attempt is made to move an objectover a large distance on a computer screen. This problem is encounteredwhen a small mouse pad is used with a computer mouse, or when an objectposition sensor of the kind described herein has a small touch sensorarea.

In touch sensor applications, this problem is especially acute during a“drag” gesture. If the user lifts the finger to begin a second stroke,the drag effect ends prematurely on the screen. The edge motion featureof the present invention helps to eliminate the need to use “rowing,” ormultiple strokes of the finger to move a large distance on the screen.

A prior solution to the long-distance drag problem has been to providean acceleration feature, i.e., a “ballistic” curve, where the gainvaries as a function of finger speed, allowing the user to move longdistances, albeit clumsily, using a repeated finger swishing motion.This technique can be used with any variable-speed pointing device, forexample, with a mouse on a mouse pad of limited size. Typical mousedriver software includes an adjustable acceleration feature (sometimesunder a misleading name like “mouse speed”).

According to a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the edgemotion feature of the object position sensor is implemented by motionunit 18 of FIG. 1 and works by defining two zones in the sensing plane10 containing the touch sensor array 22. As shown in FIG. 11, thesensing plane 10 is preferably divided into an inner zone 240 comprisingmost of the central portion of the surface of sensing plane 10 and anouter zone 242, typically comprising a thin marginal area at theperiphery of the sensor array. The center of the sensing plane 10 may bedescribed as the origin (X_(center), Y_(center)) in a cartesiancoordinate system. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognizehowever that the inner and outer zones could be of any shape.

Thus in FIG. 11, inner zone 240 is defined by the upper dashed line Y₀,right-hand dashed line X₀, lower dashed line −Y₀ and left-hand dashedline −X₀. Outer zone 242 is the region between the outer edges of thesensing plane 10 defined by Y_(max), −Y_(max), X_(max) and −X_(max) andthe outer borders of inner zone 240 defined by Y₀, X₀, −Y₀, and −X₀.

According to this aspect of the present invention, finger motions in theinner zone 240 are translated in the standard fashion into motion eventsto be sent to the host computer. As is well understood in the art, thestandard way to communicate mouse motion to a host computer may also beemployed in the present invention to communicate finger motion to a hostcomputer. After the finger position is established as disclosed herein,the information communicated to the host computer is:ΔX=A(X _(cur) −X _(old))  [Eq. 9]ΔY=A(Y _(cur) −Y _(old))  [Eq. 10]where ΔX is the change in the X position of the finger, ΔY is the changein the Y position of the finger, X_(cur) is the current X position ofthe finger and X_(old) is the last reported X position of the finger,Y_(cur) is the current Y position of the finger and Y_(old) is the lastreported Y position of the finger, and A is a “gain factor” which iscommonly encountered in mouse cursor control applications.

Typically, the host computer takes (ΔX,ΔY) events and moves the cursorby the indicated amount in each axis, thus reconstructing the fingerposition on the screen as the successive ΔX and ΔY values areaccumulated. So far, this is standard cursor control behavior where edgemotion is not considered.

According to the present invention, when the finger is reported as beingin the outer zone 242, the edge motion feature of the present inventionmay be enabled. The determination of whether the finger is in the outerzone is a simple determination:[−X ₀ <X _(cur) <X ₀] is FALSE, OR [−Y ₀ <Y _(cur) <Y ₀] is FALSE  [Eq.11]

Referring now to FIG. 12A, a circuit 244 for making a determination ofwhether a finger is in the outer zone 242 is shown in schematic diagramform. FIG. 12A illustrates a hardware embodiment for determining whethera finger is in the outer zone 242, but those of ordinary skill in theart will readily recognize that this determination could readily be madeby performing one of a number of equivalent software routines. Suchsoftware routines are obvious and straightforward from the functionsdescribed herein.

Circuit 244 includes digital comparators 246, 248, 250, and 252, whichmay be straightforwardly implemented by conventional logic. Comparator246 puts out a true signal when the quantity X_(cur) at one of itsinputs is greater than the fixed quantity X₀ presented to its otherinput. Comparator 248 puts out a true signal when the quantity X_(cur)at one of its inputs is less than the fixed quantity −X₀ presented toits other input. Comparator 250 puts out a true signal when the quantityY_(cur) at one of its inputs is greater than the fixed quantity Y₀presented to its other input. Comparator 252 puts out a true signal whenthe quantity Y_(cur) at one of its inputs is less than the fixedquantity −Y₀ presented to its other input.

The outputs of comparators 246, 248, 250, and 252 are ORed together byOR gate 254. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in theart, the FingerOuter signal output of OR gate 254 is true only when thenecessary conditions of Eq. 11 are satisfied.

It is presently preferred that the edge motion aspect of the presentinvention may be selectively enabled or disabled by a user. When theedge motion feature is enabled and the finger is reported as being inthe outer zone as set forth above, a second component is added to the(ΔX,ΔY) events reported:ΔX=A(X _(cur) −X _(old))+S(X _(cur) −X _(center))  [Eq. 12]ΔY=A(Y _(cur) −Y _(old))+S(Y _(cur) −Y _(center))  [Eq. 13]where X_(center) is the X coordinate of the center of the pad,Y_(center) is the Y coordinate of the center of the pad, and S is amultiplicative factor for speed. S should be chosen such that themovement of the cursor is at a comfortable speed on the display screen.

For example, if the finger is held a good distance to the right (so thatX_(cur)>X₀), then the cursor will tend to “glide” to the right at aconstant speed set by multiplicative speed factor S in Eqs. 12 and 13.This factor can be adjusted to individual taste of a user.

If the touch sensor array 22 has different dimensions in X and Y, it isuseful to set the multiplicative speed factor S parameters in the X andY directions to differ by the same ratio as the pad dimensions, so thata finger held at the left or right edge of the touch sensor array 22will produce the same cursor speed as a finger held at the top or bottomedge. In the presently preferred embodiment of the touch sensor array22, there are 24 X traces and 18 Y traces. Therefore, since X is 4/3wider than Y (24 traces vs. 18 traces), the X multiplicative speedfactor S_(X) is set to be ¾ as large as the multiplicative speed factorS_(Y).

The glide speed of the cursor during edge motion is clearly a directfunction of the distance of the finger from the center of the pad, andthe glide direction is equal to the direction of the finger from thecenter. If the outer zone has the preferred “edge margin” shape as shownin FIG. 11, then the finger will always be roughly the same distancefrom the center whenever edge motion is activated (within a factor ofthe square root of 2=1.41, assuming a square pad). Thus, thepsychological effect is that edge motion involves a constant glide speedwhere the direction is set by the position around the touch sensor array22 edge.

The square root of 2 variation may be canceled out by dividing the edgemotion terms in equations (12 and 13) by a normalizing factor of theform:√{square root over ((X_(cur)−X_(center))²+(Y_(cur)−Y_(center))²)}{squareroot over ((X_(cur)−X_(center))²+(Y_(cur)−Y_(center))²)}  [Eq. 14]but this is a computationally intensive step applied to fix a problemthat is barely noticeable to the average user; thus, it may be omitted.

As discussed above, when a finger is in the outer zone, the FingerOutersignal, which is a global signal for both the X and Y axis, is madetrue, and increments are added to the (ΔX, ΔY) events pursuant to Eqs.12 and 13. Because increments corresponding to S(X_(cur)−X_(center)) andS(Y_(cur)−Y_(center)) are added in the X and Y directions, respectively,for the (ΔX, ΔY) events, the direction of the cursor motion will bealong a vector from the center of the pad to the finger position. Ingraphical environments, there are many vertical and horizontal objectsand use of edge motion may incur some unintended results. For example,if a user in a graphical environment pulls down a tall pop-up menu, theuser may need the assistance of the edge motion feature to reach thebottom of the menu. In this case, however, the direction of the cursormotion may cause the cursor to slide off the pop-up menu, when the useractually wants the cursor to move in a vertical motion along the Y axis.

In another embodiment of the edge motion feature of the presentinvention, the direction of the cursor motion will be orthogonal to theedge motion boundary the finger has crossed in traveling to the outerzone.

For example, when a finger crosses either of the edge motion boundariescorresponding to the X axis (the right and left edges of the touchpad)and travels into the outer zone, the direction of cursor motion due tothe orthogonal edge motion feature will be only along the X axis. Anycursor motion in the Y direction while the finger is in the outer zonecorresponding to the X axis will occur in a normal fashion, i.e. notaccording to an edge motion feature. Analogously, when a finger crosseseither of the edge motion boundaries corresponding to the Y axis (thetop and bottom edges of the touchpad) and travels into the outer zone,the direction of cursor motion due to the edge motion feature will beonly along the Y axis. Any cursor motion in the X direction while thefinger is in the outer zone corresponding to the Y axis will occur in anormal fashion, i.e. not according to an edge motion feature. It shouldbe appreciated, however, that when the finger enters into any of thefour corners of the pad, thus crossing both X and Y edge motionboundaries, edge motion will essentially be along a vector from thecenter of the pad to the finger in the corner.

Unlike the edge motion feature, which uses a global FingerOuter signalto indicate that the finger is in the outer zone, the orthogonal edgemotion feature has two signals. One is X FingerOuter and the other is YFingerOuter. X FingerOuter is true when a finger crosses either of theboundaries corresponding to the X axis, which in the preferredembodiment are on the right and left edges of the touch pad, and YFingerOuter is true when a finger crosses either of the boundariescorresponding to the Y axis, which in the preferred embodiment are onthe top and bottom edges of the touch pad.

In FIG. 12B, a schematic is shown of the hardware used in making thedetermination of whether a finger is in the outer zone according to theorthogonal edge motion feature. It will be appreciated by those ofordinary skill in the art that the circuit shown in FIG. 12B could beimplemented with an equivalent software routine. Where it isappropriate, FIG. 12B uses the same reference numerals shown in FIG.12A.

Referring now to FIG. 12B, circuit 256 includes digital comparators 246,248, 250 and 252 which may be implemented by conventional logic.Comparator 246 puts out a true signal when the quantity X_(cur) at oneof its inputs is greater than the fixed quantity X₀ presented to itsother input. Comparator 248 puts out a true signal when the quantityX_(cur) at one of its inputs is less than the fixed quantity −X₀presented to its other input. Comparator 250 puts out a true signal whenthe quantity Y_(cur) at one of its inputs is greater than the fixedquantity Y₀ presented to its other input. Comparator 252 puts out a truesignal when the quantity Y_(cur) at one of its inputs is less than thefixed quantity −Y₀ presented to its other input.

The outputs of comparators 246 and 248 are ORed together by OR gate 258.When the condition satisfied by:−X ₀ <X _(cur) <X ₀ is FALSEa TRUE signal, X FingerOuter, will be output from OR gate 258.

The outputs of comparators 250 and 252 are ORed together by OR gate 260.When the condition satisfied by:−Y ₀ <Y _(cur) <Y ₀ is FALSEa TRUE signal, Y FingerOuter, will be output from OR gate 260.

Accordingly, an X FingerOuter signal will result in a value being addedto the ΔX event in an amount determined by S(X_(cur)−X_(center)) as setout in Eq. 12. However, because the only time this component will beadded is when an X axis edge motion boundary has been crossed, i.e. noadditional component determined by S(X_(cur)−X_(center)) is added to theΔX event when only a Y axis edge motion boundary has been crossed, thecomponent added to the ΔX event will be approximately constant becauseX_(cur)−X_(center) is approximately constant.

A Y FingerOuter signal will result in a value being added to the ΔYevent in an amount determined by S(Y_(cur)−Y_(center)) as set out in Eq.13. However, because the only time this component will be added is whena Y axis edge motion boundary has been crossed, i.e. no additionalcomponent determined by S(Y_(cur)−Y_(center)) is added to the ΔY eventwhen only an X axis edge motion boundary has been crossed, the componentadded to the ΔY event will be approximately constant becauseY_(cur)−Y_(center) is approximately constant.

Accordingly, the orthogonal edge motion feature permits cursor motion inonly the eight “compass” directions. For, example, if the finger is onthe left edge of the touchpad, the orthogonal edge motion feature causesthe cursor to glide left along the X axis, since X FingerOuter is TRUEand Y FingerOuter is FALSE. The same is true for the right edge of thepad, except the cursor will glide right along the X axis. Those ofordinary skill in the art will recognize the corresponding movements forthe upper and lower edges of the pad. When the finger is in any of thecorners of the pad, X FingerOuter and Y FingerOuter are both TRUE, andthe motion will be along a 45 degree angle (assuming a square touchpad)from the corner of the pad to where the finger is placed.

The edge motion feature of the present invention can be confusing if theuser does not expect it. Since edge motion is most useful in connectionwith the drag gesture, it is presently preferred to arrange for it tooccur only during a drag, i.e., only when the gesture logic is virtually“holding the mouse button down.” The drag gesture and other gestures areimplemented by gesture unit 20 of FIG. 1.

At times when the edge-motion function is not desired, the outer zone242 “goes away” (i.e., is ignored) and the inner zone 240 effectivelyexpands to cover the entire sensing plane 10. It has been found thatthis is much less confusing in practice, probably because the user ismore likely to be consciously aware of the cursor control device duringa drag gesture than during simple cursor motions.

Assuming the preferred zone boundary shape of FIG. 11, the followingalgorithm may be employed to implement the edge motion feature of thepresent invention:

IF NOT (−X₀ < X_(cur) < X₀ AND −Y₀ < Y_(cur) < Y₀)   AND (optionally) adrag gesture in progress, THEN   Let eX = S_(X) (X_(cur) − X_(center))  Let eY = S_(Y)(Y_(cur) − Y_(center)) ELSE   Let eX = eY = O. END IF

Otherwise, for orthogonal edge motion, the algorithm is as follows:

IF NOT (−X₀ < X_(cur) < X₀) AND (optionally) a drag gesture in progress,THEN   Let eX = S_(X) (X_(cur) − X_(center)) ELSE   Let eX = O. END IFIF NOT (−Y₀ < Y_(cur) < Y₀ AND (optionally) a drag gesture in progress,THEN   Let eY = S_(Y) (Y_(cur) − Y_(center)) ELSE   Let eY = O. END IF

Next, the dX and dY motion terms are computed from the regularalgorithm:i.e., Let dX=A(X _(cur) −X _(old))Let dY=A(Y _(cur) −Y _(old))

Finally, the resultant packet (ΔX=dX+eX, ΔY=dY+eY) is transmitted to thehost computer. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that alinear proportionality is described by the above equation. As usedherein, “proportionality” means that the signal generated is a monotonicfunction. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that othermonotonic functions, including but not limited to inverseproportionality, and non-linear proportionality such as logarithmic orexponential functions, could be employed in the present inventionwithout departing from the principles disclosed herein.

A hardware implementation of this algorithm is illustrated in FIG. 13 inschematic diagram form. While edge-motion circuit 262 is shownimplemented in the X direction only, those of ordinary skill in the artwill recognize that an identical circuit will also be employed in the Ydirection. Such skilled persons will also immediately appreciate thecomplete equivalence of implementing the hardware solution of FIG. 13 asa software routine.

Edge-motion circuit 262 includes a subtractor circuit 264 in which theprevious value of X_(cur), stored in delay 266, is subtracted from thepresent value of X_(cur). The output of subtractor circuit 264 ispresented to multiplier 268, which multiplies the result by the gainfactor “A”. The output of multiplier 268 is the term dX.

The term X_(cur) is also presented to subtractor circuit 270 in whichthe value of X_(center) is subtracted from the present value of X_(cur).The output of subtractor circuit 270 is presented to multiplier 272,which multiplies the result by the gain factor “S” to obtain the valueof the eX term. It will be appreciated that with orthogonal edge motionsubtractor circuit 270 and multiplier 272 are not required and aconstant value can be provided for the eX term, whose sign is positiveif X_(cur)>X_(center) or negative if X_(cur)<X_(center).

A two-input AND gate 274 has its input terms the value FingerOuter fromthe circuit of FIG. 12A and the value MotionEnable which is a toggledon/off enable signal for the edge motion feature of the presentinvention. If both FingerOuter and MotionEnable are true, switch 276 isconfigured to pass the output of multiplier 272 to adder circuit 278. Ifeither FingerOuter or MotionEnable is false, then switch 276 isconfigured to pass the value zero to adder 278. The output of switch 276is the eX term. The output of adder 278 is passed to the host computeras ΔX. The MotionEnable signal can be controlled by the user, e.g., by acontrol panel. Alternatively, it may be controlled by the gesture unitas will be more fully disclosed.

It should be appreciated that when orthogonal edge motion instead ofedge motion is being enabled, the two-input AND gate 274 has as itsinput terms the value X FingerOuter from the circuit of FIG. 12B (or thevalue Y FingerOuter from the circuit of FIG. 12B for the Y direction)and the value OrthoMotionEnable which is a toggled on/off enable signalfor the edge motion feature of the present invention. If both XFingerOuter and OrthoMotionEnable are true, switch 276 is configured topass the output of multiplier 272 to adder circuit 278. If either XFingerOuter or OrthoMotionEnable is false, then switch 276 is configuredto pass the value zero to adder 278. The output of switch 276 is the eXterm. The output of adder 278 is passed to the host computer as ΔX. TheOrthoMotionEnable signal can be controlled by the user, e.g., by acontrol panel. Alternatively, it may be controlled by the gesture unitas will be more fully disclosed.

In an alternate form, the dX term may be replaced by the eX term, andlikewise for dY and eY, when the finger is in the “outer” zone, ratherthan adding the two terms in that zone. This results in a more “pure”edge motion that is harder for the user to guide. User tests have shownthat the dX+eX form shown above feels better and is easier to use.

Another alternative that is functional but has been found to be lessdesirable employs a somewhat wider outer zone. The glide speed is thenvaried in proportion to the distance of the finger into the outer zonerather than the distance from the center of the pad. Thus, as the fingerenters the outer zone the glide speed starts at zero and increases tosome reasonable limit as the finger reaches the edge of the pad. Theresult is a smoother transition between edge-motion and normal behavior.It is not difficult to modify the above formulas to produce thisalternate behavior. This variant was tried by the inventors because thetransition into edge-motion mode seemed too abrupt; tests showed thatthis abruptness is actually a boon in typical use. The smooth transitionis harder to “feel”, and thus winds up being more, not less, likely tocatch the user by surprise. Those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that a solution midway between the two described methods canalso be employed to produce a less abrupt transition.

Alternate solutions to the long-distance drag problem have been toprovide a “locking” drag or drag “extension”, as will be disclosedherein.

The edge motion feature of the present invention is used advantageouslywith one or more finger gestures, which may be performed by a user onthe touch sensor array 22 and are recognized by the system. Ofparticular interest are the basic tap and drag gestures. The tap gestureis analogous to the clicking of the mouse button on a conventionalmouse, and the concept of dragging objects is familiar to all mouseusers.

Pointing devices such as mice typically include one or more mousebuttons. The user can point and click a button to select an object onthe screen, or hold the button down and move the mouse to drag an objectaround the screen. Touch sensor pointing devices can offer “gestures,”which are special finger motions that simulate mouse button actionswithout the need for physical switches. (Since gestures may be difficultfor novices or users with disabilities, it is preferable to providephysical switches as well.) In the following discussion, the word“finger” should be interpreted as including a stylus or other conductiveobject as previously described.

Referring back to FIG. 1, according to another aspect of the presentinvention, gesture unit 20 examines the (X,Y,Z) data produced byarithmetic unit 16 to produce one or more “virtual mouse button” signalsto be sent along with the (ΔX, ΔY) signals to the host.

FIG. 14 is a more detailed block diagram of gesture unit 20 of FIG. 1.According to the present invention, gesture unit 20 of the presentinvention is capable of supporting a variety of gestures. Gesture unit20 includes tap unit 280, zigzag unit 282, push unit 284, and buttoncontrol unit 286.

Some number of physical switches may be supported by gesture unit 20. Inthe illustrative example of FIG. 14, two inputs A and B to buttoncontrol unit 286 come from physical switches. Such switches may bemounted on the touchpad module itself or provided externally. Any numberof switches may be provided, or none at all. The inputs A and B have twostates, logic “0” and logic “1”. Those of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that, instead of mechanical switches, the switch signals couldbe implemented by special touch sensors, operated by charge integratorssimilar to units 44 which feed into threshold comparators to formdigital signals.

Tap unit 280, zigzag unit 282, and push unit 284 examine the sequence of(X,Y,Z) samples to look for various types of gestures. The outputs ofall these units, plus the switch signals, are combined in button controlunit 286 to produce the actual button-press signals sent to the host. Inthe illustrative example disclosed herein, the touchpad simulates athree-button (Left, Middle, Right) pointing device. The system of FIG.14 could clearly be extended to support other gestures than thosedescribed here, or to support fewer gestures in the interest ofsimplicity.

Button control unit 286 can use any of several well-known methods forcombining multiple signals. For example, a priority ordering can beestablished among the various sources, or each button output (Left,Middle, and Right) can be asserted (“clicked”, “pressed” or “held down”)whenever any of the sources indicate that button. Any particular methodof combining these signals is a routine design detail dependent on aparticular system configuration, which may be easily implemented bypersons of ordinary skill in the art.

In a presently preferred embodiment, the button control unit 286 mapsboth switches and gestures to the most commonly used virtual buttons,giving maximum flexibility to the user. In an alternate embodiment,switches and gestures can be mapped to different virtual buttons so thata larger number of virtual buttons can be covered without resort toexotic gestures. Or, the user can be offered a choice of mappings.

It is well known in the art to allow extra button switches to beprocessed as specialized commands, such as double-clicking, selectingcommonly used menu items, etc., instead of their normal role as mousebuttons. Similarly, the button control unit 286 or host software couldmap some of the gestures described here to software commands instead ofsimulating mouse buttons. Such processing and mapping is well within therealm of ordinary skill in the art.

The tap unit 280 decodes the most basic gestures, including taps, drags,hops, and tap zones. These gestures are illustrated as timing diagramsin FIGS. 15 a through 15 e. In each of FIGS. 15 a through 15 e, twosignals are shown graphed against time; one is the analog “Z” (fingerpressure) signal, the other is the digital “Out” (virtual button press)signal. The various relevant time spans are shown with labels “″t1”through “t21”.

The basic “tap” gesture is a quick tap of the finger on the pad. Such atap, of short duration and involving little or no X or Y finger motionduring the tap, is presented to the host as a brief click of the mousebutton. If a multi-button mouse is simulated, the tap gesture maysimulate a click of the “primary” mouse button, or the button to besimulated may be user-selectable using a shift key, control panel, orother known means. Two taps in rapid succession are presented to thehost as a double click of the button. In general, multiple tapstranslate into multiple clicks in the obvious and natural way.

Because it is impossible to tell whether a finger stroke will be a validtap (as opposed to a cursor motion) while the finger is still down, thedevice of the presently preferred embodiment does not report a buttonclick until the finger is lifted. This delay is not generally noticeableto the user since taps by definition are very brief strokes.

A small amount of motion may occur during the tap stroke, due to suchfactors as the natural deformation of the fingertip under pressure. Thiscan cause the virtual click created by the tap gesture to select thewrong item or location on the screen. To avoid this, either the motionmust be suppressed until the motion is great enough, or the durationlong enough, to disqualify a tap, or the motion must be allowed but thenretroactively canceled out once the tap gesture is recognized. Thelatter solution is preferable, since even a small amount of suppressedmotion is noticeable to the user.

According to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, motionevents are sent to the host as usual, and also recorded in a register orqueue. When the tap gesture is recognized, a corresponding negativeamount of motion is quickly replayed in order to “undo” thealready-reported motion and to restore the original cursor position asof the moment the finger's presence was first detected. The motionduring the stroke may have been sent to the host in the form of asequence of several packets. For greatest precision, this sequence canbe saved and replayed in reverse. However, if the host's motionprocessing is linear, it will suffice to accumulate the total amount ofmotion during the stroke and send a compensating motion in a singlepacket. Since the “acceleration” feature of a typical mouse driveractivates only at high speeds, this assumption of linearity is usuallysafe in this context.

The inputs considered by tap unit 280 are CurPos, the current (X,Y)finger position from the arithmetic unit; Z, the current pressure value;and CurTime, the current time in some suitable units of time (such asmilliseconds or number of samples processed).

There are nine state variables used in tap unit 280. TapState is NONE ifthere is no gesture in progress, TAP if there is a tap or drag gesturein progress, and LOCKED if there is a locking drag or drag extension inprogress. TapOkay is TRUE if a high enough Z value has been seen in thecurrent stroke for the stroke to qualify as a tap. DownPos is the (X,Y)position at which the finger last touched down on the pad. DownTime isthe time at which the finger last touched down. UpPos and UpTime recordthe position and time at which the finger last lifted from the pad.TapButton is one of LEFT, MIDDLE, or RIGHT, identifying whether thecurrent gesture is simulating an action on the left, middle, or rightvirtual mouse button, respectively. Suppress is TRUE if the virtualbuttons are being suppressed for a double click. Finally, Out representsthe output of the tap unit, and is one of NONE, LEFT, MIDDLE, or RIGHT.

Several parameters are used to control the tap unit. TapTime is themaximum duration of a stroke to qualify as a tap gesture. DragTime isthe maximum interval between the initial tap and the return of thefinger to form a drag gesture. ExtendTime is the maximum amount of timethe finger can be off the touchpad during a drag extension gesturebefore the drag gesture will end. HopTime is the maximum lift timepreceding a tap to qualify as a hop. TapRadius is the maximum amount ofmotion that can occur during a tap. DragRadius is the maximum distancebetween the initial tap and the return of the finger for a drag.DragExtendRadius is the minimum distance between finger lift-off andfinger touchdown needed to qualify as a drag extension. HopDistance isthe minimum distance moved to qualify for a hop. Zthresh is the minimumpressure (Z) to detect a finger. DragExtendSpeed is the minimum smoothedspeed required during finger lift-off to qualify as a drag extension. Inthe claims herein, steps reciting “detecting the presence” of a fingeror other object (or other words to that effect) assume that a pressuregreater than Zthresh has been detected. Finally, Ztap is the minimum Zto detect a tapping finger.

FIG. 15A shows the timing of a basic tap gesture. First, a successfultap is shown, followed by a finger stroke that is too long to qualify asa tap. In the first stroke, the finger is down for time “t1”, which isless than TapTime. Also (not shown on FIG. 15A) the (X, Y) motion duringtime “t1” is less than TapRadius. Finally, the Z signal exceedsthreshold Ztap for at least some part of the stroke. Thus, the strokequalifies as a tap. The Out signal (the lower trace of FIG. 15A) becomestrue for a certain amount of time “t2”, then becomes false. As will bediscussed later, the amount of time “t2” is equal to DragTime. In thedevice described in the flowcharts to follow, the TapState variable willequal TAP for the entire interval “t2”. As presently preferred, TapTimeis about 400 msec, TapRadius is about 2% of the width of the sensor pad,and Ztap is slightly larger than Zthresh, whose value is adjustable bythe user.

On the right half of FIG. 15A, the finger is held down for longer thanthe parameter TapTime, shown on the figure as “t3”. Thus, it will notqualify as a tap gesture and no Out signal is generated from thisstroke.

In the basic drag gesture, the user taps once, quickly brings the fingerback in contact with the pad, then moves the finger in a desireddirection in the XY plane of the pad. The simulated mouse button isdepressed at the beginning of the drag gesture and is released only whenthe finger is again lifted from the pad. Gesture logic arranges for theinitial tap of the drag gesture to be merged into the extended dragrather than presenting the host with an additional distinct buttonclick.

In a variation of the drag gesture, the above-described gesture begins adrag that continues even when the finger is lifted. The drag ends (i.e.,the simulated mouse button is released) when the finger is again tappedon the sensor pad. This feature is known as “locking drag”. Locking dragallows dragging over longer distances than can be covered by a singlefinger motion on a small pad, but it can be highly confusing if it isactivated by mistake. The locking drag becomes a hidden mode, awell-known undesirable item in the study of user interfaces. Thus, inthe preferred embodiment it is presented to the user as an option thatis disabled by default.

In another embodiment of the drag gesture, the above-described gesturewill continue even though the finger has been lifted, if the fingercomes back down to the touch pad within a specified period of timereferred to as a drag timeout. This feature is referred to as drag“extension”. The drag timeout period is presently preferred as 500 msec,but will be optimized, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skillin the art, with user studies. Of course, a drag gesture will end if thefinger is removed from the touchpad and not returned within the dragtimeout.

Accordingly, with the drag extension feature enabled, when the finger islifted off the pad for less than the drag timeout, the drag gesture willcontinue, but when the finger stays off the touchpad for a periodgreater than the timeout, the drag gesture ends. This gives the user theability to “stroke” or “row” repeatedly to drag a long distance. Unlikelocking drag, drag extension does not appear to the user as a hiddenmode, since the end of the drag occurs after the drag timeout, a veryshort time period in human perception, if the finger does not return tothe touch pad in time.

However, a problem can arise with drag extension because the dragcontinues through the drag timeout, even though the drag ends. There maybe occasions when the user wants the drag to end immediately, e.g. whenthe drag gesture is being used to hold down a scroll bar arrow.Generally, these arrows auto-repeat until the user releases the mousebutton. The continuation of the drag gesture during the drag timeoutwould cause the scrolling feature to scroll past the desired stoppingplace.

Accordingly, the drag gesture may actually represent two differentgestures. A true drag, where the cursor is moved around while thevirtual button is being held down, and a press, where the cursor remainsstationary while the virtual button is being held down. The dragextension feature is only desired for a true drag. There are severalways to distinguish between a true drag and a press. A true drag can beidentified if the finger's speed of motion prior to lift-off is above asmall threshold. A press can be identified if the finger was stationarythrough the entire gesture, possibly ignoring small, inconsequentialmovements, or just at the time of finger lift-off. In the preferredembodiment of the drag extension gesture of the present invention thedistinction between a true drag and a press is identified by the fingerspeed at lift-off being above a specified threshold. The finger speed atlift-off is obtained as the output a running average filter. If thespeed is below the specified threshold, the drag ends rather than beingextended. In an alternative embodiment, the distinction between a truedrag and a press may be identified by the position of the finger atlift-off. If the finger is within a selected distance from the edge ofthe pad at lift-off a true drag is identified.

A second potential problem may occur while using drag extension if theuser begins a new unrelated finger action during the ExtendTime period.As discussed above, when drag extension is enabled, a drag will continueeven though the finger has been lifted from the touch pad if the fingeris brought back to the touch pad within the drag timeout. It may be thatthe user actually wants the drag to end when the finger is lifted, andto begin a new gesture when bringing the finger back down to thetouchpad. One way to determine whether the drag gesture is continuing oris being ended and a new finger action begun is to compare the lift-offfinger position and the touchdown finger position. Usually, a subsequentstroke of an extended drag would not begin at the spot where theprevious stroke had ended. Therefore, if the finger comes down within aspecified distance from the lift-off position (within the specified dragtimeout), then the drag extension feature allows the drag to continue,otherwise the drag ends immediately. It will be appreciated, however, bythose of ordinary skill in the art that the drag extension feature maybe implemented, though not preferably, without comparing the fingerposition at touch down with the finger position at lift-off, andfurther, that the drag need not end immediately.

The “edge motion” feature described previously serves as an alternateway to accomplish long-distance drags.

The drag gesture is implemented as follows. When a tap is recognized,the virtual mouse button is depressed as previously described. However,the virtual mouse button is not released until the finger has remainedaway from the pad for a sufficient amount of time to disqualify as adrag gesture. This amount of time DragTime should be chosen to be longenough to allow for a comfortable drag gesture, but short enough so thatthe click arising from a tap gesture is still reasonably brief. Aspresently preferred, a time of about 200 msec is used.

As shown in FIG. 15B, the drag gesture begins with a tap as describedabove, of duration “t4” which is less than TapTime. The Out signal goeshigh in response to this tap. The finger remains away from the pad for aperiod “t5” which is less than DragTime, then it returns to the pad andremains for a time “t6” which is longer than TapTime. This qualifies thegesture as a drag. The Out signal remains high until the finger isfinally released at time “t7”. In the implementation of FIG. 15 b, thetime “t7” between the removal of the finger and the release of thevirtual mouse button is zero; in other similar implementations thismight be nonzero but small, e.g., equal to DragTime. Note that TapStatewill equal TAP for the entire interval from “t5” to “t7”.

There are a number of alternatives that can be considered for the timingof DragTime. FIG. 15A shows the interval “t2”, which is also the upperlimit on the interval “t6”, as being exactly equal to the parameterDragTime. In one alternative, DragTime is measured relative to DownTimeinstead of UpTime, which is equivalent to saying that the intervals “t1”and “t2” (“t5” and “t6”, respectively) must sum to DragTime. Aconsequence of this method is that in the basic tap gesture, a longer,slower tap causes a briefer virtual button click. This contradictionmakes this approach less satisfying to the user than the one shown inFIGS. 15A-B.

In another alternative, DragTime is made proportional to the length ofinterval “t1” (“t5” respectively), so that a brief tap produces a briefvirtual button click, and a longer tap (up to the limit TapTime)produces a longer click. This alternative gives the user more controlover the simulated button click, but it makes the behavior depend onwhat the user may perceive as an insignificant feature of the tappingaction.

There are several ways to make the duration of DragTime “proportional”to the length of interval “t1”. In one case, the length of the virtualbutton click or DragTime is a direct function of the length of the tapby the user. As described in the previous paragraph a brief tap producesa brief virtual button click, and a longer tap produces a longer click.This approach seems to provide an advantage to novice users who usuallytap more slowly and also require a longer period of time (longerDragTime) to bring the finger back down to begin a drag gesture.Unfortunately, the longer DragTime also results in a longer virtualbutton click (OUT signal), which may have undesirable side effects,including unintentional scroll bar auto-repeating or “stuttering”.

A preferred approach when differentiating between novice and expert tapsis to recognize taps of different lengths, but to make the virtualbutton click or OUT signal the same length for different tap lengths.However, when a novice tap is recognized, the timing of the OUT signalwill be delayed, so that novice users will have a longer DragTime tobegin a drag gesture. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skillin the art that the length of taps used to differentiate between noviceand expert users will be optimized after user studies. It should also berecognized that there are other ways to differentiate between novice andexpert users. For example, the pressure of a novice tap is often greaterthan the pressure of an expert tap. Additionally, it may also bebeneficial to use a history of tap lengths, for example, the averagelength of several previous taps. Those of ordinary skill in the art willalso recognize that decision between novice and expert could be made bythe user at a control panel.

Referring now to FIG. 15C, the preferred embodiment of a variableDragTime as a function of tap length is illustrated. On one hand, aspresently preferred, an expert tap is seen having a duration for theinterval “t1” of less than 200 msec. The virtual button click or OUTsignal of 200 msec in the interval “t2” begins as soon as the fingercomes off the pad, thus providing the expert with the fastest possibleresponse. To begin a drag gesture the finger would have to come backdown on the touchpad before the 200 msec virtual button click timeended. Thus, the variable DragTime is chosen to be 200 msec in thepreferred embodiment, thus reducing the chances of an expert's quickfinger actions being incorrectly interpreted as a drag gesture.

On the other hand, a novice tap is seen having a duration for theinterval “t1” of between 200 msec and 500 msec (in the preferredembodiment, strokes longer than 500 msec would be disqualified as taps).The virtual button click or OUT signal of 200 msec in the interval “t2b” begins after a delay “t2 a” of 300 msec, and as a result the userwill have a longer DragTime of 500 msec in which to begin a draggesture. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thelength of the delay may be chosen in several different ways, includingas a function of the tap duration. Similarly, the other time-relatedparameters of gesture recognition such as HopTime and ExtendTime can beadjusted when novice taps are involved. If the finger comes back down tobegin a drag gesture before the delayed click has begun (i.e., duringthe “t2 a” interval), then the virtual button click must beginimmediately as the finger comes down. Otherwise, if this new fingerstroke also turned out to be a tap, the first click of the resultingdouble-click could be subsumed in the “t2 a” interval.

FIG. 15D shows the locking drag gesture. The locking drag begins with astandard drag gesture involving intervals “t8” through “t10”. However,when the finger is raised, the Out signal remains high. (In theflowcharts, TapState will change from TAP to LOCKED at this time.) Thefigure shows a second dragging stroke of a length longer than TapTime(shown as “t11”) which does not end the locking drag, followed byanother stroke of length “t12” less than TapTime. Since this last strokequalifies as a tap, it ends the locking drag at time “t13”. In theflowcharts, TapState changes back to TAP at this time; a regular tap isthen processed, which continues to hold Out high for a time “t13” equalto DragTime as usual. A reasonable alternative implementation might endthe drag after a different interval “t13”, such as zero.

FIG. 15E shows the drag extension gesture. The drag extension beginswith a standard drag involving intervals “t14” through “t16”. The fingeris raised during interval “t17”, but because the finger is off thetouchpad for a length of time shorter than the drag timeout parameterExtendTime, the OUT signal remains high. Also (not shown on FIG. 15E)the (X,Y) motion during “t17” is greater than DragExtendRadius and thesmoothed average finger speed at the time of lift-off from the pad atthe beginning of interval “t17” is greater than DragExtendSpeed. Thefigure shows the finger lifted for a second interval “t18”. Since theperiod of time in which the finger is lifted from the touchpad duringinterval “t18” is greater than ExtendTime, the OUT signal goes low aperiod of time equal to ExtendTime after the finger is lifted from thepad. It may be preferable to adjust ExtendTime for novice or expertusers, as described previously for DragTime.

FIG. 15F shows a double tap gesture. The double tap starts outindistinguishably from a drag gesture. However, the second stroke “t21”is shorter than TapTime, thus qualifying as a second tap instead of adrag. Regular tap processing causes Out to remain high for anotherinterval “t23” of length DragTime; however, special double-tap handlingshown in the flowcharts suppresses the virtual mouse button for a briefperiod “t22” after recognition of the tap. Thus, the host computerperceives two distinct clicks rather than the one long, run-togetherclick that it would see without this special handling.

Other gestures may be used to simulate a multi-button mouse. In one suchapproach, the basic gestures are augmented by a “hop” gesture, in whichthe finger is lifted from its resting place in one location on the padand tapped a substantial distance away from the resting place. If thedistance is sufficiently great (HopDistance, typically a fraction of thewidth of the sensor pad; presently preferred to be about 25%) and theduration between the lift and the subsequent tap is less than a suitablethreshold (HopTime, typically a fraction of a second; presentlypreferred to be about 0.5 sec.), then the click or drag gesture begun bythe tap is simulated on a different mouse button. This different buttonmay be a fixed “secondary” button, or it may be user-selectable by acontrol panel or other means, or it may be a function of the directionin which the finger hopped (e.g., to the left vs. to the right).According to a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the hopgesture is available as an option that is off by default.

Note that, while some users prefer to tap with a second finger in thehop gesture, this gesture never involves more than one finger on the padat any one time. A similar gesture, the “zigzag”, is also describedherein and does involve the use of two fingers at once.

FIG. 15G shows a “hop” gesture. This gesture begins with the fingeralready on the pad. The finger is then lifted for interval “t24” whichis less than HopTime; the finger then comes down for a regular tap“t25”. Also, not shown on the figure, during interval “t24” the fingermust have moved by at least a certain distance HopDistance away from itsprevious position. When this occurs, the gesture is processed as a “hop”instead of a regular tap, and the virtual button press “t26” occurs onthe right button Out(R) instead of the usual left button Out(L). It iseasy to see how the tap “t25” could be followed by further fingeractions to form a drag or a double-tap on the right button.

Another multi-button gesture uses “tap zones,” in which the surface ofthe pad is divided into two or more zones. A tap or drag initiated in agiven zone simulates an event on a button corresponding to that zone.Even if the finger moves between zones during a drag, the entire drag issimulated on the button corresponding to the zone of the original tapthat initiated the drag gesture.

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate two tap zone shapes. In FIG. 16A, the padis divided into three vertical stripes 288, 290, and 292, correspondingto the left, middle, and right mouse buttons, respectively. In FIG. 16b, the pad is divided into a main area 294 simulating the left mousebutton, and a small corner area 296 simulating the right mouse button.The implementation of FIG. 16 b is more appropriate if one button ismuch more heavily used in typical applications than the other button(s).

It is preferable for the zones to correspond to clearly marked regionson the pad surface. It will be obvious to one skilled in the art thatother zone shapes, such as multiple corners or horizontal stripes, areequally straightforward.

There is an interaction between tap zones and the edge motion featurethat needs to be taken into account. Particularly with the corner area296 of FIG. 16 b, tap zones encourage the user to tap near the edge ofthe pad. If edge motion is active during taps and drags or at all times,then edge motion will tend to interfere with the proper behavior ofcorner taps. To prevent this, the edge motion enable logic of FIG. 13can be modified slightly. In a given stroke, edge motion only operatesif the finger has been in the inner zone at least once during thatstroke. Thus, if the finger touches down in the outer zone, edge motionwill not activate until the finger leaves the edge of the pad and thenreturns.

All of the above-described gestures are variations of basic tap and draggestures. In the system described herein, all of these gestures arerecognized by the tap unit 280. The operation of tap unit 280 is mosteasily described as an algorithm in the form of a flowchart. From thisdisclosure, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thetap unit described herein could actually be implemented as known andobvious equivalents such as a software program, hardware state machine,or otherwise. All such implementations are intended to fall within thescope of the present invention.

FIGS. 17A through 17F comprise a flowchart for the operation of tap unit280. Tap unit 280 implements the tap, drag, locking drag, dragextension, corner-tap, and hop gestures described herein. In the gesturerecognition operations described herein, the cornertap is used tosimulate the right virtual mouse button. Hops to the left and right areused to simulate the middle and right virtual mouse buttons. Simple tapssimulate the left (primary) virtual mouse button.

Processing begins at step 300 as each (X,Y,Z) sample arrives from thearithmetic unit 16 of FIG. 1. In a presently preferred embodiment of theinvention, such data arrive 40 times per second. The algorithm of FIGS.17 a through 17 f will run from start (step 300) to finish (step 392)every time a sample arrives.

Step 302 determines whether the finger is up or down by comparing Z(pressure) against Zthresh to determine whether a finger is present(“down”) or not (“up”). Instead of a simple threshold comparison, twothresholds may be used to provide hysteresis as is well known in theart. Hysteresis is not shown in FIG. 17A, but similar hysteresis will beillustrated later in FIG. 20 for the “push” gesture.

In step 304, the finger is known to be down. The previous Z is checkedto see whether the finger was previously down or is just now touchingdown on the pad.

In step 306, a finger-down transition has been detected. This mayindicate the beginning of a drag gesture or a successive row in dragextension, etc. For a drag or drag extension gesture, the change in thefinger position from the previous finger position on the touchpad duringDragTime and ExtendTime, respectively, is checked.

In the drag gesture illustrated in FIG. 15B, it is beneficial to checkthat the finger has not moved a great distance during time “t5”, theinterval between the initial tap and the return of the finger to thepad. If the distance calculated during “t5” indicates that the fingerhas returned to the pad in a different location, then a drag gesture wasprobably not intended.

In the drag extension gesture illustrated in FIG. 15E it is necessary tocheck that the finger has moved a great enough distance during interval“t17”, between subsequent rows of an extended drag gesture. If thedistance is not great enough, the drag gesture ends.

Since the TapState during a drag gesture is TAP and the TapState duringa drag extension gesture is LOCKED, step 306 determines the TapState. Ifthe TapState at step 306 is TAP, then step 308 computes the distancebetween the current position CurPos (the filtered and smoothed X and Yposition data) and the saved position of the previous tap, DownPos. Ifthe distance is greater than some threshold DragRadius, then executionproceeds to step 310. Otherwise, it proceeds to step 312. The thresholdDragRadius should be some fraction of the width of the pad, preferablylarger (more generous) than the TapRadius used in basic tap detection.

At step 316, it is determined whether DragLock is enabled. If DragLockis enabled, the execution proceeds to step 312. Otherwise the executionproceeds to step 310.

If the TapState of step 306 is LOCKED, and DragLock is not enabled, thena drag extension must be in progress. Step 314 computes the distancebetween the CurPos and the saved ending position of the previous stroke,UpPos. If the distance is greater than some threshold DragExtRadius,then execution proceeds to step 312. Otherwise it proceeds to step 316.The threshold DragExtRadius should be some fraction of the width of thepad, as determined by user testing. (Some users may prefer aDragExtRadius of zero, so that step 310 is effectively disabled.)

Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that severalpossible distance measures are suitable for use in steps 308 and 314. Atrue Euclidean distance measure is reasonable but expensive to compute;a simpler measure is the sum or maximum of the absolute values of thedistances in X and Y. The sum or maximum will produce a “drag zone”around the original tap which is diamond- or square-shaped,respectively, instead of the circular zone produced by a Euclideandistance measure. Experiments suggest that users are unable to perceivethe difference between these zone shapes, so whichever measure iseasiest to compute is preferred. Also, the geometry of the finger andtouchpad may cause the significant motion to lie always in onedirection, e.g., X, in which case a simple absolute difference of Xcoordinates may be preferred.

In the preferred embodiment, the user is able to change the level ofgesture recognition using a control panel or other means. If the userelects to allow taps but not drags, then step 308 can be programmed togo directly to step 310 so that all taps are disqualified from becomingdrags.

In step 310, a drag gesture has been disqualified. TapState is changedfrom TAP to NONE; the effect will be a simple tap gesture followed bycursor motion with no virtual button held down.

Step 312 records the position and the time at which the finger toucheddown.

Step 318 initializes the TapOkay flag to FALSE. It also clears theSuppress flag, which is used to delay the virtual button clicksresulting from “novice” taps. Step 318 ends the delay prematurely if thefinger comes back down onto the touchpad. If the new finger stroke isthe second tap of a double tap gesture, step 318 is responsible forensuring that the virtual click from the first tap is not accidentallysuppressed entirely.

Step 320, which executes on all samples in which the finger is down,compares Z against the Ztap threshold; step 322 sets TapOkay to TRUE ifZ is greater than the Ztap threshold. Thus, when the finger lifts,TapOkay will be TRUE if Z ever exceeded the tap threshold during thebrief stroke that is a candidate for a tap gesture.

Referring now to FIG. 17B, in step 324, the finger is known to be offthe pad. The previous Z is checked to see whether the finger waspreviously up or is just now being lifted from the pad.

In step 326, a finger-up transition has been detected. Various tests aremade of the most recent stroke (finger-down period) to see if itqualifies as a tap. To qualify, the stroke must have short duration(CurTime minus DownTime must be less than TapTime), little or no motion(the distance from CurPos to DownPos must be less than TapRadius), andsufficient peak finger pressure (TapOkay must be TRUE), in order toqualify as a tap.

In step 328, any finger motion which has occurred is retroactivelycanceled out by quickly replaying to the host a corresponding negativeamount of motion from the register or queue in order to “undo” thealready-reported motion and to restore the original cursor position asof the moment the finger's presence was first detected. If the motionduring the stroke was sent to the host in the form of a sequence ofseveral packets, this sequence can be saved and replayed in reverse. Ifthe host's motion processing is linear, it will suffice to accumulatethe total amount of motion during the stroke and send a compensatingmotion in a single packet. Since the “acceleration” feature of a typicalmouse driver activates only at high speeds, this assumption of linearityis usually safe in this context.

Step 330 takes one of several actions based on the current TapState.First, if TapState is NONE (no gestures in progress), execution simplyproceeds to step 332. In step 332, the duration of the tapping stroke,CurTime minus DownTime, is computed to distinguish short, expert tapsand long, novice taps. For expert taps, execution simply proceeds tostep 338 of FIG. 17 c. For novice taps, execution proceeds to step 334,which arranges to use a longer value for DragTime for the currentgesture. These steps may simply compare the tap duration to a fixedthreshold to choose between two fixed DragTime values, or they may usethe tap duration to smoothly modulate the DragTime.

Step 334 also sets the Suppress flag to True to cause the virtual buttonsignal to stay low for a short period. In the preferred embodiment, thisperiod is chosen to be the difference between the novice and expertDragTime values, so that the resulting non-suppressed portion of thevirtual click has the same duration in all cases, as shown in FIG. 15C.

Second, if TapState is TAP (a recent tap is still in progress), then adouble-tap has been detected. Step 334 sets the Suppress flag to TRUE tocause the virtual button signal to go low for one sample. Thiscorresponds to time “t22” of FIG. 15F. In an alternate approach, one ormore extra packets indicating a release of the virtual buttons can beinserted into the regular packet stream, rather than using a Suppressflag as shown herein. In an alternate approach, distinct Suppress flagscould be used for the two purposes of delaying novice clicks andprocessing double taps; for example, a 300 msec suppression may bedesirable for delaying novice clicks, but for double-taps it may sufficeto end the suppression after at least one packet reflecting thesuppression of virtual button has been sent to the host.

Finally, if TapState is LOCKED, this is the tap that ends a lockingdrag. Step 336 sets TapState back to TAP, then skips directly to step370 of FIG. 17 e, bypassing the steps which decide which of the threemouse buttons to simulate. Thus, the locking drag changes back into atap on the same virtual mouse button. After the usual short duration(“t13” of FIG. 15D), the virtual button will be released.

It is significant that the button choice (FIG. 17 c) is omitted in theLOCKED case. If a right-button locking drag is initiated by, forexample, a tap in the corner of the pad, then it should be possible toterminate the drag by tapping anywhere on the pad, not just in thecorner. It is also significant that the button choice is included in thedouble tap case. Otherwise, it would be impossible, for example, toperform left- and right-button clicks in rapid alternation by tappingalternately in two different locations on the pad.

In an alternate embodiment, if TapState is LOCKED, TapState is set toNONE and step 386 is performed next. This makes “t13” of FIG. 15D equalto zero. Since TapState may also be LOCKED during drag extension, theimplementation shown here also allows the user to tap to cut short thedrag extension period DragExtTime. In an alternate embodiment, tapscould be ignored during the drag extension period. However, thesignificance of this is lessened if DragExtTime is short.

Referring now to FIG. 17C, step 338 checks whether the current tapqualifies as a “hop” gesture. This check involves several tests. First,the hop gesture must be enabled by the user. Second, the finger musthave been raised for only a short amount of time between the current tapand the last time it was on the pad (DownTime minus UpTime must be lessthan HopTime). Finally, the position of this tap must be significantlyfar away from the previous position (the distance from DownPos to UpPosmust be greater than HopDistance). Once again, a variety of distancemeasures are possible. The operations shown in FIGS. 17 a through 17 fsupport leftward and rightward hops; thus, a reasonable distance measureis absolute difference in X coordinate between DownPos and UpPos.

In a variant that is easily seen to be nearly equivalent, CurTime andCurPos are used in place of DownTime and DownPos in step 338.

If the tap qualifies as a hop, execution proceeds to step 340. Since thesystem of this example supports two different hop gestures, thedirection of the hop is checked to determine the type of gesture. If theX coordinate of DownPos (or CurPos) is less than the X coordinate ofUpPos, a leftward hop has occurred (assuming X increases to the right).If the X coordinate of DownPos (or CurPos) is greater than the Xcoordinate of UpPos, a rightward hop has occurred. Note that, due to thechecks of step 338, DownPos will be either significantly to the left orsignificantly to the right of UpPos at this point.

In step 342, a leftward hop causes TapButton to be set to the symbolMIDDLE, so that the tap gesture will generate a virtual middle mousebutton click.

In step 344, a rightward hop causes TapButton to be set to RIGHT,initiating a virtual right button click.

Step 346 executes if no hop was detected. It proceeds to check for theother supported alternate gesture, the corner tap. A corner tap is a tapoccurring in a small corner zone as shown in FIG. 16B. A corner tapoccurs if corner taps have been enabled by the user; the X coordinate ofDownPos (or CurPos) is greater than some coordinate CornerX; and the Ycoordinate is greater than some coordinate CornerY. CornerX and CornerYare shown on FIG. 16B.

It should be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that other tapzones, such as those of FIG. 16A, or multiple corner zones, can bedecoded in a completely analogous way by examining the X and Ycoordinates of the tap location.

In the presently preferred embodiment, the user is given the choice ofhop gestures, corner taps, or neither, as a mechanism for simulatingalternate button clicks. There is nothing stopping an implementationfrom offering both hops and corner taps at once, except that to do sowould likely be more confusing than beneficial to the user.

In step 348, no corner tap was detected, so TapButton is set to LEFT tosimulate a click of the left virtual mouse button.

In step 350, a corner tap was detected, so TapButton is set to RIGHT tosimulate a right virtual mouse button click.

Step 352 records the current position as the new UpPos, the liftlocation used for later hop decoding. In general, UpPos is updated eachtime the finger is seen to lift from the pad. However, there are twoexceptions to this rule. First, if the finger lift is itself part of ahopping tap gesture, UpPos is not updated. This is seen in the leftbranch of the flowchart of FIG. 17 c. This exception is needed tosupport, for example, a double-click of the right virtual button. Thefinger is lifted, moved substantially to the right, then tapped twice.The two taps will occur in roughly the same place. If UpPos were updatedby the first tap, the second tap would be decoded as a left-buttonclick.

Second, in the flowcharts of FIGS. 17 a through 17 f, UpPos is notupdated on a tap that ends a locking drag. User tests show that thelast-lift location perceived by the user is usually the last lift duringthe locking drag, with the terminating tap being a subconscious actionwhose location is not perceived as relevant. Therefore, it makes moresense to omit the update of UpPos for the terminating tap of a lockingdrag.

Step 354 sets TapState to TAP after any tap, corner tap, or hop gesture,thus recording that a gesture is in progress.

Referring now to FIG. 17D, step 356 executes when the finger lifts fromthe pad in a way that does not qualify as a tap. This step checks ifTapState is TAP; if so, the finger must have lifted from the long strokeof a drag gesture, e.g., time “t7” of FIG. 15B. Depending on userpreference, the drag gesture is either terminated by the lift of thefinger, or locked to become a locking drag.

Step 358 checks whether locking drags have been enabled by the user.This decision may be made at design time, for a system in which dragsare always locking or always not, or it may be based on a run-timeoption such as a control panel.

If locking drags have not been enabled, then step 360 checks whetherdrag extension has been enabled. This decision may be made at designtime, for a system in which drags are always extended or not, or it maybe based on a run time option such as a control panel.

At step 362, if drag extension is enabled, then the speed of the fingerat lift-off is checked to see whether it is above DragExtSpeed. Thispermits making the distinction between true drags and presses describedabove.

In step 364, the TAPSTATE of a drag is converted to LOCKED.

In step 366, a drag is terminated by the lift of the finger.

In step 368, which executes whenever the finger is lifted and does notqualify as a tap, UpPos is updated to the current position as describedabove.

Referring now to FIG. 17E, step 370 executes whenever the finger liftsfrom the pad. The variable UpTime is updated to record the time at whichthe finger lifted from the pad.

Step 372 determines the TapState for each sample in which the fingerremains off the pad.

If the TapState is TAP, then step 374 compares CurTime minus UpTimeagainst DragTime, to see if the finger has stayed off the pad too longafter a tap for the tap to be the beginning of a drag. It should beappreciated that if variable DragTime is in use, the DragTime used forcomparison will be a function of whether a short, expert tap has beenmade or a long, novice tap has been made. If the time limit is exceeded,and TapState equals TAP, then execution proceeds to step 376. Otherwise,execution proceeds to step 378.

If the TapState is LOCKED, step 380 determines whether the DragLock modehas been enabled. If DragLock has not been enabled, then executionproceeds to step 382. If DragLock is enabled, then execution proceeds tostep 378 and the drag continues.

Step 382 determines whether the finger has been off the touchpad for aperiod exceeding ExtendTime. If not, the drag continues and executionproceeds to step 378. Otherwise execution proceeds to step 376 where theTapState becomes NONE because the finger has been off the touchpad fortoo long to continue the drag.

Step 378 checks whether the finger has been off the pad long enough toend the suppression period begun by step 334. If so, execution proceedsto step 384, where the Suppress flag is set to False.

Step 376 changes TapState from TAP to NONE, ending the tap and thuspreventing the tap from extending to a drag, or the existing drag frombeing extended further.

Referring now to FIG. 17F, all paths converge on step 386, whichexecutes on every sample regardless of the state of the finger. Thisstep begins a series of checks to determine the output of the tap unit280 for this sample. First, if the Suppress flag is TRUE in step 386,virtual buttons are suppressed so the output is set to NONE in step 388.

If the Suppress flag is FALSE and there is no button suppression,TapState is examined in step 390. If TapState is TAP or LOCKED, then thebutton indicated by TapButton is output in step 392.

If TapState is NONE, no tap, drag, or hop gesture is in progress, step394 sets the output to NONE in this case.

Processing ends at step 396 (END). The tap unit will start over at step300 (START) when the next (X,Y,Z) sample arrives from the arithmeticunit.

The edge-motion feature of FIG. 13 is most useful during a drag gesture.Thus, it is preferable to allow the MotionEnable input of motion unit 18to be derived from the state of gesture unit 20. In particular, the“MotionEnable” signal into AND gate 268 of FIG. 13 is obtained byMotionEnable=(TapState=TAP) OR (TapState=LOCKED).

The “zigzag” unit 282 of FIG. 14 decodes a two-finger gesture in whichone finger remains resting on the pad while another finger taps to oneside of the primary finger. In terms of the (X,Y,Z) information producedby the basic device, this gesture will effectively increase the Z valuewhile quickly shifting the X and/or Y value by a significant distance.(When two fingers are on the pad, the apparent position reported ismidway between the two fingers.) If such a change is detected, and isfollowed by a rapid return to the original X, Y, and Z values, then atap of a second finger is recognized.

Because a second finger tap cannot be reliably recognized until thesecond finger is lifted, sudden cursor motions first to one side andthen back again are unavoidably sent to the host. The name “zigzag”refers to these characteristic cursor motions. A motion-reversalmechanism similar to that used in the tap unit 280 can be employed toensure that the virtual button click occurs at the original,un-zigzagged location. The only difficulty in this case is that themotions involved may be large enough to trigger the host's accelerationfeature, which means that either the reversal motion must be stored andreplayed packet by packet, or the zigzag unit and host software mustcooperate to ensure that the cursor does in fact return to the desiredplace.

It is possible to recognize second-finger taps using only the (X,Y,Z)information from the standard arithmetic unit 16, as described herein.However, it is clear that the arithmetic unit 16 could be modified toproduce additional information, such as the width or shape of the sensortrace profile, which would aid in the accurate recognition of thisgesture.

FIGS. 18A through 18C are a flowchart describing the algorithm for thezigzag unit 282. As was the case for the tap unit 280, the zigzag unit282 is best described as a flowchart. However, a hardware state machineis a known equivalent and would also be a reasonable implementation ofthe zigzag unit 282. Unlike the tap unit 280 flowchart of FIGS. 17 athrough 17 f, the zigzag unit 282 flowchart executes once per stroke.When the finger's presence is detected (Z>Zthresh), execution begins atstep 386. If the finger leaves the pad before execution ends, the zigzagunit 282 abandons its computation and starts over at step 386 on thenext stroke.

FIGS. 18A through 18C illustrate the additional feature that leftwardzigzags simulate a left button click, while rightward zigzags simulate aright button click.

The zigzag unit 282 requires the same position, Z, and time inputs asthe tap unit 280. It also requires a speed measure S, which is computedas the distance from the previous to the current finger position at anygiven time. If any filtering or smoothing is done on the normal (X,Y)outputs of the arithmetic unit 16 as previously disclosed, it is best tocompute the speed S from the unfiltered (X,Y) values.

State variables of the zigzag unit 282 include ZigZ and ZigZ′, whichrecord the two most recent values of Z; ZigPos, and ZigPos′, whichrecord the two most recent positions; ZigTime, which records the time atwhich the presence of the second finger was detected; ZigLeft andZigRight, which are TRUE if a leftward or rightward zigzag has beendetected, respectively; and Out, which represents the output of thezigzag unit 282, and is one of LEFT, RIGHT, or NONE.

The zigzag unit 282 uses several parameters. ZigDistance, the minimumdistance the finger position can move to qualify for this gesture.ZigMaxTime is the maximum amount of time the second finger can bepresent to qualify. Szig is the instantaneous finger speed required tobegin the detection of the gesture and is determined experimentally,depending on the sample rate, sensor dimensions, and amount of analogfiltering in the charge integrators. ZigRadius and ZigLimit specify howclose the position and Z values, respectively, must return to theiroriginal pre-zigzag values after the second finger is lifted. ZigRadiusis comparable to TapRadius, and ZigLimit is about 30% of Zthresh in thepresently preferred embodiment.

Referring now to FIG. 18A, execution begins, when the finger's presenceis detected, at step 400.

In step 402, the zigzag unit 282 waits for approximately three (X,Y,Z)samples to arrive from the arithmetic unit 16. In the preferredembodiment, these samples arrive at a rate of 40 per second. Thisinitial delay is to prevent Z fluctuations at the beginning of thestroke from being mistaken for a second finger.

In step 404, ZigZ and ZigZ′ are initialized to a reserved value denotedas NONE.

In step 406, the zigzag unit 282 waits for the next (X,Y,Z) sample toarrive.

Step 408 checks for the beginning of a “zig”, the first half of thezigzag gesture in which the apparent finger grows and jumps to one side.The speed S of the current sample is compared against the thresholdSzig. If S is greater, and ZigZ contains valid data (not the reservedvalue NONE), then execution proceeds to further validation of thegesture in FIG. 18 b.

In step 410, no incipient “zig” has been seen, so ZigPos′ is updated toreflect the most recent finger position, and ZigPos is updated toreflect the second-most-recent finger position. If smoothing orfiltering is applied to the output of the arithmetic unit 16 of FIGS. 1and 8, then, unlike the S computation described earlier, ZigPos shouldbe updated from the filtered or smoothed position data. In other words,it should be updated from the processed position data which is used toupdate the cursor position on the host.

In step 412, ZigZ′ and ZigZ are similarly updated to reflect the twomost recent Z values. In typical usage patterns, a second-finger tapwill typically occur to the left or right, i.e., different in X but notnecessarily in Y. Thus, the X denominator (output of subtractor 168 ofFIG. 8) will tend to increase by a clear factor of two when a secondfinger is present, whereas the Y denominator (output of subtractor 172)may or may not increase correspondingly, depending on the linearity ofthe charge integrators 44. Thus, it is preferable to use the Xdenominator output directly as Z for the purposes of the zigzag unit282, rather than the combined and processed value normally obtained fromblock 178 of FIG. 8.

After step 412, execution returns to step 406 where the next sample isawaited.

Referring now to FIG. 18B, step 414 records the time at which theincipient “zig” was detected.

Step 416 then initializes the ZigLeft and ZigRight flags. These flagswill become TRUE if the finger is seen to move significantly far to theleft or right, respectively, of its starting position.

When a second finger comes down on the pad, the (X,Y,Z) values typicallytake two or three samples to converge to their new values which reflectthe presence of two fingers. Step 418 waits for one or two more samplesto arrive, after which time the (X,Y,Z) values should be settled. Thechoice of one, two, or more samples depends on factors such as the basicsample rate and the amount of filtering that occurs in the analog inputsection of the device.

After step 418, CurPos reflects the zigged apparent finger position, andZigPos reflects the position from two samples before the speed passedthe Szig threshold. The two-sample history is important because a smallamount of motion may have occurred due to the approaching second finger,before the finger touched down and produced the large motion thatexceeded Szig. After step 418, ZigPos contains the current positionsaved at a time before the second finger is likely to have had aneffect. Likewise, ZigZ contains the Z value from before the secondfinger arrived.

Step 420 checks to see if Z has increased substantially beyond theresting Z value ZigZ. In the presently preferred embodiment, Z iscompared against a threshold 30% larger than ZigZ. If Z is too small,the “zig” is disqualified and execution returns to step 404.

Step 422 checks to see if the current position is far to the left of theresting position ZigPos. Since the zigzag unit 282 is looking for anabrupt, “unnatural” change in position, it is preferable that step 422use position data directly from dividers 174 and/or 176 of thearithmetic unit 16, before any filtering or smoothing that may normallybe applied to position data. This data is referred to herein as RawPosto distinguish it from the filtered and smoothed value CurPos. The valueCurPos may be used, however, if desired, with less than optimum results.

In this implementation, step 422 compares the X coordinate of RawPoswith the X coordinate of ZigPos minus ZigDistance. The parameterZigDistance can be chosen experimentally based on the observed spacingon the pad between two fingers when one finger is held down and theother tapped in a natural manner.

If a suitable leftward zig is detected, step 424 sets ZigLeft to TRUE.

Step 426 similarly checks if the current position is far to the right ofthe resting position; if so, step 428 sets ZigRight to TRUE.

Step 430 then waits for the next (X,Y,Z) sample to arrive.

Step 432 checks if the second finger has lifted from the pad, bycomparing Z against a second “zag” threshold somewhat less than the“zig” threshold of step 420. (In the current system, this threshold isroughly 20% larger than ZigZ.) The “zag” threshold is set below the“zig” threshold in order to provide simple hysteresis.

If the second finger has not yet lifted, execution returns to step 422to continue waiting. If the second finger has lifted, execution proceedsto step 434 on FIG. 18 c.

Referring now to FIG. 18C, step 434 waits one or two samples for the(X,Y,Z) data to stabilize as the second finger lifts; this step isanalogous to step 418.

Step 436 does a final check for a complete zigzag gesture. So far, asudden motion accompanied by an increase in Z has been seen, followed bysudden decrease in Z. Step 436 additionally checks that the position hasreturned to its prezigzag value (the distance from RawPos to ZigPos isless than ZigRadius); the Z value has similarly returned to normal (theabsolute value of Z minus ZigZ is less than ZigLimit); and eitherZigLeft or ZigRight but not both, is TRUE. In addition, thesecond-finger tap must be of short duration, i.e. CurTime minus ZigTimeis less than ZigMaxTime.

If the motion does not qualify as a zigzag, execution returns to step404 to await detection of a zigzag gesture. If the motion has qualifiedas a zigzag, step 438 provides reverse motion to restore the cursor tothe exact position corresponding to ZigPos, if necessary. This step isanalogous to step 328 of FIG. 17 b.

In step 440, a complete zigzag has been detected. If ZigLeft is TRUE,the motion is a leftward zigzag. Otherwise, ZigRight must be TRUE andthe motion is a rightward zigzag. Accordingly, either step 442 simulatesa left button press for a leftward zigzag, or step 444 simulates a rightbutton press for a rightward zigzag.

Step 446 pauses for a certain amount of time. For example, this stepmight wait for one or several more samples to arrive, or it might waitfor one or several data packets to be sent to the host. (Normally thereis a one-to-one correspondence between samples and data packets.)

Finally, step 448 ends the simulated button press by setting Out toNONE. In this example, the zigzag gesture only works to simulate clicks,not drags. The zigzag does not extend neatly to a drag in the same wayas the normal one-finger tap, since this would imply that the entiredrag motion occurs with two fingers held awkwardly on the pad. Onealternative is to simulate a locking button, as is often done withtrackball buttons in the art, where consecutive zigzags alternatelypress and release the virtual button. Another alternative is to have thezigzag gesture press the virtual button, and to release the virtualbutton only when the primary finger is also removed from the pad.

After step 448, execution returns to step 404 to await detection offurther zigzag gestures.

Another gesture that is useful in specialized applications is a “push”gesture, which simply compares the Z (pressure) information against asecond Z threshold ZpushDown, considerably higher than the basicfinger-detection threshold, and simulates a mouse button action wheneverZ exceeds this threshold. This “push” gesture is similar to the waypen-based pointing devices normally operate; however, it is tooimprecise and too tiring on the finger to use as the primary click ordrag gesture. The “push” gesture is most useful in special contexts suchas freehand drawing programs.

FIG. 19 is a timing diagram illustrating a “push” gesture. To performthis gesture, the finger is first brought near enough to cause cursormotion without causing a virtual button press. Next, the finger pressureincreases past threshold ZpushDown, causing the virtual button to bepressed. Later, the pressure reduces below a threshold ZpushUp, causingthe virtual button to be released. If ZpushUp is somewhat lower thanZpushDown, the resulting hysteresis will prevent unwanted oscillation onthe virtual button if the finger pressure varies slightly around the“push” threshold.

In one variant that may be preferable, ZpushUp is set equal to Zthresh,so that once a push has begun the finger must be fully lifted from thepad in order to release the simulated button. Other users may preferZpushUp to be much closer to ZpushDown than to Zthresh, resulting in amore delicate feel.

The push unit 284 of FIG. 14 recognizes the push gesture. FIG. 20 is aflowchart illustrating the implementation of this gesture. Thecorresponding diagram for an equivalent hardware circuit to recognizethis gesture would be quite straightforward.

Execution begins at step 450 every time a new (X,Y,Z) sample arrivesfrom the arithmetic unit 16. Note that the push unit 284 examines onlythe Z value of each sample.

Step 452 checks whether or not a “push” gesture is already in progress.

Step 454 executes if no “push” gesture is in progress. This step checksif a “push” should begin. First, “push” gestures must be enabled by theuser. Second, the current Z value must be greater than the thresholdZpushDown.

If Z is sufficient to begin a push gesture, step 456 sets Out to LEFT toindicate that the left button is now pressed.

Step 458 checks if the current push gesture should end. This checksimply involves comparing Z against ZpushUp. If Z is less than ZpushUp,the push gesture is terminated in step 460.

Execution ends at step 462. If neither step 456 nor step 460 wasexecuted then Out remains the same, thus providing the hysteresisreferred to above. The state variable Out should be initialized to NONEat startup time.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will note that the tap unit 280 issuitable for use with any touchpad that provides (X,Y) andfinger-presence information, and push unit 284 is suitable for use withany touchpad that produces Z (pressure) information. Only the zigzagunit 282 depends on special characteristics of the particular touchpadtechnology disclosed herein, namely the fact that two fingers reliablyreport an averaged finger position.

Two more algorithms that are not directly part of gesture processing maybe used to address minor problems that occur when the user taps on thepad. Specifically, the finger position sometimes shears sharply in onedirection just as the finger lifts away. This is due to natural slippageof the finger during this action, and is aggravated when the finger isheld at a shallow angle. A “reverse motion” algorithm can deal with someof this problem, but if the apparent finger position jumps so far thatthe TapRadius test fails, reverse motion cannot help.

If Z is seen to be changing rapidly between the current and previoussamples (i.e., if the absolute difference between the current andprevious Z values is less than some empirically determined threshold),then the time constant of the (X,Y) filtering of the output of thearithmetic unit 16 can be increased. Normally, the old filter value andnew quotient are averaged with roughly equal weighting to produce thenew filter value. If Z is rapidly changing, the old filter value isinstead weighted considerably (e.g., an order of magnitude) more thanthe new quotient. The result is that any motion occurring during thisinstant of high Z change is heavily damped.

Often the spurious motion that arises from a finger-lift occurs all inthe very last sample before Z decreases below the finger-down thresholdZthresh. Another solution to the problem of spurious finger-lift motionis the “lift-jump suppression” mechanism, which attempts to suppressthis final spurious motion event. FIG. 21 shows an illustrative circuitfor performing the lift-jump suppression function.

The circuit shown in FIG. 21 performs lift jump suppression. It examinesthe sequence of (X,Y) position samples arriving from dividers 174 and176 of FIG. 8 to produce a speed S which is further processed to obtaina motion-suppression signal. As described previously, it is best to usethe quotient values directly, before any smoothing or filtering stage,when computing the speed S.

Referring to FIG. 21, X coordinates are stored in delay 470. Subtractor472 computes the absolute value of the difference between the current Xvalue and the previous value stored in delay 470. Likewise, delay 474and subtractor 476 compute the absolute change in Y. Adder 478 forms thesum of these absolute differences to produce speed S, the distancebetween the current and previous samples. As previously described, it isclear that other distance measures may be used for this computation.Note that, in addition to the circuitry of FIG. 21, the zigzag unit 282also makes use of the speed value S as previously disclosed.

Delay units 480 and 482 record the previous and second-previous valuesof S, known as S′ and S″, respectively. Divider 484 computes thequantity one-half of S, denoted S/2. The lift-jump suppression unitlooks for a characteristic relationship among the values S, S′, S″, andS/2 in an attempt to recognize spurious lift-jump events. One practicedin the art will recognize that S″ is not valid until the fourth sampleof a given finger stroke; thus, the lift-jump suppression unit isdisabled for the first three samples of each stroke. The lift-jumpsuppression unit also employs a parameter LiftJump, a speed thresholdwhich is determined experimentally and is affected by the sample rateand the sensitivity of the sensor pad.

Comparator 486 checks if the speed S is greater than the thresholdLiftJump. Comparator 488 checks to see if the previous speed S′ is lessthan LiftJump, and comparator 490 checks if S′ is less than S/2.Similarly, comparator 492 checks to see if the second-previous speed S″is less than LiftJump, and comparator 494 checks if S″ is less than S/2.If all five conditions are satisfied, AND gate 496 outputs a“suppress-motion” signal which suppresses the action of motion unit 18for this sample. When motion unit 18 is suppressed, its output (ΔX,ΔY)is not generated for the current sample, and its delay unit 260 is notclocked.

The profile detected by the lift-jump suppression unit usually occursduring a last spurious motion sample before the finger lifts. Since Zwill fall below Zthresh on the very next sample, the current sample willnever contribute to any motion events sent to the host. The algorithm isguaranteed by design not to suppress more than one sample in a row.Thus, if the algorithm “guesses wrong” and Z does not fall belowZthresh, the skipped finger motion will be taken up into the (ΔX,ΔY)packet produced by the next sample with only a tiny hesitation in theperceived cursor motion.

The increased sensitivity of the touch sensor system of the presentinvention allows for a lighter input finger touch which makes it easyfor human use. Increased sensitivity also makes it easier to use otherinput objects, like pen styli, etc. Additionally, this sensitivityallows for a tradeoff against a thicker protective layer, or differentmaterials, which both can allow for lower manufacturing costs.

Greater noise rejection allows for greater flexibility in use andreduced sensitivity to spurious noise problems. Two techniques areemployed which allow derivation of the most noise-rejection benefit.

Due to the drive and sense techniques employed in the present invention,the data acquisition rate has been increased by about a factor of 30over the prior art. This offers several obvious side effects. First, forthe same level of signal processing, the circuitry can be turned offmost of the time and reduce power consumption by roughly a factor of 30in the analog section of the design. Second, since more data isavailable, more signal processing, such as filtering and gesturerecognition, can be performed.

The sensor electronic circuit employed in the present invention is veryrobust and calibrates out process and systematic errors. It will processthe capacitive information from the sensor and provide digitalinformation to an external device, for example, a microprocessor.

Because of the unique physical features of the present invention, thereare several ergonomically interesting applications that were notpreviously possible. Presently a mouse or trackball is not physicallyconvenient to use on portable computers. The present invention providesa very convenient and easy-to-use cursor position solution that replacesthose devices.

In mouse-type applications, the sensor of the present invention may beplaced in a convenient location, e.g., below the “space bar” key in aportable computer. When placed in this location, the thumb of the usermay be used as the position pointer on the sensor to control the cursorposition on the computer screen. The cursor may then be moved withoutthe need for the user's fingers to leave the keyboard. Ergonomically,this is similar to the concept of the Macintosh Power Book with itstrackball, however the present invention provides a significantadvantage in size over the trackball. Extensions of this basic idea arepossible in that two sensors could be placed below the “space bar” keyfor even more feature control.

The computer display with its cursor feedback is one small example of avery general area of application where a display could be a field oflights or LEDs, an LCD display, or a CRT. Examples include touchcontrols on laboratory equipment where present equipment uses aknob/button/touch screen combination. Because of the articulatingability of this interface, one or more of those inputs could be combinedinto one of the inputs described with respect to the present invention.

Consumer Electronic Equipment (stereos, graphic equalizers, mixers)applications often utilize significant front panel surface area forslide potentiometers because variable control is needed. The presentinvention can provide such control in one small touch pad location. AsElectronic Home Systems become more common, denser and more powerfulhuman interface is needed. The sensor technology of the presentinvention permits a very dense control panel. Hand-held TV/VCR/Stereocontrols could be ergonomically formed and allow for more powerfulfeatures if this sensor technology is used.

The sensor of the present invention can be conformed to any surface andcan be made to detect multiple touching points, making possible a morepowerful joystick. The unique pressure detection ability of the sensortechnology of the present invention is also key to this application.Computer games, “remote” controls (hobby electronics, planes), andmachine tool controls are a few examples of applications that wouldbenefit from the sensor technology of the present invention.

Musical keyboards (synthesizers, electric pianos) require velocitysensitive keys, which can be provided by the pressure sensing ability ofthis sensor. There are also pitch bending controls, and other slideswitches that could be replaced with this technology. An even moreunique application comprises a musical instrument that creates notes asa function of the position and pressure of the hands and fingers in avery articulate 3-d interface.

The sensor technology of the present invention can best detect anyconducting material pressing against it. By adding a compressibleinsulating layer covered by a layer of conductive material on top of thesensor the sensor of the present invention may also indirectly detectpressure from any object being handled, regardless of its electricalconductivity.

Because of the amount of information available from this sensor it willserve very well as an input device to virtual reality machines. It iseasy to envision a construction that allows position monitoring in threedimensions and some degree of response (pressure) to actions.

While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that manymore modifications than mentioned above are possible without departingfrom the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not tobe restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.

1. A touch-sensor comprising: a substrate; a plurality of sensorelectrodes disposed on the substrate, the plurality of sensor electrodesconfigured to sense an object proximate to the plurality of sensorelectrodes; and a processor coupled to the plurality of sensorelectrodes, the processor configured to: detect a first presence of anobject proximate to the touch-sensor; detect a second presence of anobject proximate to the touch-sensor, the second presence startingafter, and overlapping in time with, the first presence; and initiate agesture signal indicating an occurrence of a multiple-presence gestureresponsive to a set of criteria being met, the set of criteriacomprising detecting first and second presences of objects, wherein thesecond presence starts after, and overlaps in time with, the firstpresence; from a first time associated with a first Z value on one sideof a first threshold until a second time later than the first timeassociated with a second Z value on an opposite side of the firstthreshold, wherein all Z values associated with times between the firsttime and second time are all past a reference Z value, providepositional information representing motion of the object on thetouch-sensor; and after the second time, initiate a gesture signalindicating the occurrence of the gesture.
 2. The touch-sensor of claim1, wherein the plurality of sensor electrodes comprises a first set ofconductive traces running in a first direction.
 3. The touch-sensor ofclaim 2, wherein the plurality of sensor electrodes comprises a secondset of conductive traces running in a second direction different fromthe first direction, and wherein the processor is further configured to:repeatedly receive sensor electrode signals from the plurality of sensorelectrodes, repeatedly develop sensor profiles using the sensorelectrode signals, and repeatedly determine positional information intwo dimensions using the sensor profiles.
 4. A touch-sensor forresponding to a gesture, the touch-sensor comprising: a substrate; aplurality of sensor electrodes disposed on the substrate, the pluralityof sensor electrodes configured to sense an object proximate to theplurality of sensor electrodes; and a processor coupled to the pluralityof sensor electrodes, the processor configured to: detect a firstpresence of an object proximate to the touch-sensor, the first presencelasting a first duration of time; initiate a gesture signal if a set ofcriteria is met, the set of criteria comprising the first duration oftime being less than a first reference amount of time; detect a secondpresence of the object proximate to the touch-sensor, the secondpresence occurring a first elapsed time after an end of the firstpresence; and terminate the gesture signal if the first elapsed time isgreater than a second reference amount of time, otherwise maintainingthe gesture signal at least until an end of the first elapsed time andat least until an occurrence of a terminating event.
 5. The touch-sensorof claim 4, wherein the gesture signal is a virtual-button signal,wherein the first presence has a first amount of motion during the firstduration, and wherein the set of criteria further comprises the firstamount of motion being less than a reference amount of motion.
 6. Thetouch-sensor of claim 4, wherein the terminating event comprises anevent selected from the group consisting of: an end of the secondpresence, a passage of a predetermined amount of time after an end ofthe second presence, and a detection of a third presence of the objectproximate to the touch-sensor.
 7. The touch-sensor of claim 4, whereinthe second presence lasts a second duration of time and has an amount ofmotion during the second duration of time, and wherein the maintainingof the gesture signal occurs if the second duration is greater than athird reference amount of time or if the amount of motion is greaterthan a reference amount of motion.
 8. The touch-sensor of claim 4wherein the first presence has a first amount of motion during the firstduration of time and the initiating of the gesture signal occurs if thefirst amount of motion is less than a first reference amount of motion,and wherein the second presence lasts a second duration and has a secondamount of motion during the second duration, and the maintaining of thegesture signal occurs if the second amount of motion is greater than asecond reference amount of motion.
 9. The touch-sensor of claim 4,wherein the plurality of sensor electrodes comprises a first set ofconductive traces running in a first direction, and wherein theprocessor is further configured to: detect a finish of the secondpresence finishing in a central region of the touch-sensor not includingany predefined peripheral regions of the touch-sensor; detect a thirdpresence of the object proximate to the touch-sensor, the third presenceoccurring a second elapsed time after the finish of the second presence;and maintain the gesture signal through the second elapsed.
 10. Thetouch-sensor of claim 4, wherein the plurality of sensor electrodescomprises a first set of conductive traces running in a first directionand a second set of conductive traces running in a second directiondifferent from the first direction, and wherein the processor isconfigured to detect the first presence by being configured to:repeatedly receive sensor electrode signals from the plurality of sensorelectrodes, repeatedly develop sensor profiles using the sensorelectrode signals, and repeatedly determine positional information intwo dimensions using the sensor profiles.
 11. A method for responding toa multiple-presence gesture using a touch-sensor, the method comprising:detecting a first presence of an object proximate to the touch-sensor;detecting a second presence of an object proximate to the touch-sensor,the second presence starting after a beginning of the first presence,overlapping in time with the first presence, and ending before the firstpresence; and initiating a gesture signal indicating the occurrence of amultiple-presence gesture responsive to each criterion of a set ofcriteria being met, the set of criteria comprising the second presencestarting after a beginning of the first presence and overlapping in timewith the first presence, and ending before the first presence.
 12. Themethod of claim 11 further comprising: determining a first position ofthe first presence; determining a second position of the secondpresence; and determining a location of the second position relative tothe first position, wherein the gesture signal is indicative of thelocation of the second position relative to the first position.
 13. Themethod of claim 12 wherein the determining a location of the secondposition relative to the first position comprises determining whetherthe second position is left or right of the first position, and whereinthe gesture signal is indicative of the location of the second positionrelative to the first position by being indicative of whether the secondposition is to the left or right of the first position.
 14. The methodof claim 13 wherein the gesture signal is indicative of the secondposition being to the left of the first position by simulating actuationof a first button, and wherein the gesture signal is indicative of thesecond position being to the right of the first position by simulatingactuation of a second button.
 15. The method of claim 11 wherein thegesture signal simulates a button click.
 16. The method of claim 11,further comprising: terminating the gesture signal responsive to boththe first presence and the second presence ending.
 17. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising: detecting a third presence of an objectproximate to the touch-sensor, the third presence starting after an endof the second presence and overlapping in time with the first presence;and terminating the gesture signal responsive to a second set ofcriteria being met, the second set of criteria comprising the gesturesignal having been initiated, and the third presence starting after theend of the second presence and overlapping in time with the firstpresence.
 18. The method of claim 11, wherein the detecting a firstpresence of an object proximate to the touch-sensor comprises detectinga first object at a first position near the touch-sensor, and whereinthe detecting a second presence of an object proximate to thetouch-sensor comprises detecting a first apparent change in position ofthe first object, the first apparent change in position caused by asecond object arriving at a second position near the touch-sensor afterthe first object has arrived at the first position, and wherein the setof criteria further comprises the first apparent change in position ofthe first object being greater than a threshold amount of change. 19.The method of claim 18, further comprising: detecting an end of thesecond presence by detecting a second apparent change in position of thefirst object, the second apparent change in position caused by thesecond object leaving from proximate to the touch-sensor while the firstobject is still proximate to the touch-sensor, wherein the set ofcriteria further comprises the second apparent change in positionplacing the first object within a threshold distance of the firstposition.
 20. The method of claim 18, further comprising: effecting amotion-reversal mechanism to substantially cancel out any unintendedsignals generated in response to the second object arriving at thesecond position.